IT HAS been attracting packed houses throughout its run at the Millgate Arts Centre in Delph but is Aladdin as good as people say it is? Saddleworth Independent went along and found out the answer is yes.
FIRSTLY, let us start with a simple statement – if you want to see how good a panto can be, see Aladdin at the Millgate Arts Centre.
Having just seen an evening performance alongside a packed house of gleeful audience members, we can confidently add our voice to those calling the Saddleworth panto ‘The Best Little Panto in the Country.’
The show has all the traditional panto elements – audience participation, sing-a-longs, kids up on stage, big puppets, illusions.
The real magic here is that producers The Big Tiny and the cast have managed to fit so much on to the Millgate’s cosy stage.
No wonder we were all agog when they managed to pull off a full scale flying carpet at the end of act one (as people who have an inkling of how it’s usually done, our immediate thoughts were, ‘Where has that come from and how on earth are they making it work?!’)
The costumes are each as spectacular as the last with bold block colours, luxurious fabrics and adventurous designs from the minds of The Big Tiny.
Particular favourites are Wishee-Washee’s rainbow patchwork suit, Abanazar’s array of glittering cloaks and hats, and Widow Twankey’s opener (a multicolour romper suit with washing basket for a crinoline, accompanied by an impossibly high pink wig.)
At the end of the show, the audience are encouraged to take out their phones and snap some shots of the cast wearing their iridescent rose-gold and turquoise walk down costumes – and very spectacular they looked too.
Every bit as glamorous as something you’d see on a much bigger stage in a large city.
The show starts with a bang. We meet Aladdin (Michael Pellman) and Wishee-Washee (Will Cousins) in the Peking market dancing with the show’s hilarious policemen PC World (Sarah-Louise Young) and Sergeant Pepper (Tessa Vale).
The love interest, feisty Princess Jasmine (Ellie Guerin) is introduced early, much to the disappointment of Wishee-Washee who feared losing the companionship of his twin brother.
From here we are whisked to the laundry of Widow Twankey (played expertly by the hilarious Dominic McChesney) who finds herself a new boyfriend from amongst the audience.
Much is made of the new boyfriend throughout the show, his name appearing magically on the mystical wipeboard of destiny.
However, even at this early stage and unbeknownst to the audience, the seeds of brilliance are already being planted right in front of their eyes.
Without giving too much away, what at first appears to be a throw away gag is subsequently woven so expertly through the script that when everything unfolds at the climax, the audience are met both with joy at the brilliance of the twist and with wonderment that none of them saw it coming.
The plot rattles along, taking on a round the world trip via the Empress’ palace to the slums, Cairo and even France (nearly).
The gags are free flowing with every type of comedy getting a look in – character comedy, preposterous props gags (“a very large bounty on offer for her return”), and even a surreal song with the crocodile who lives inside the washing machine.
Audience favourites included the Empress’s Tommy Cooper-esque ‘Bottle-glassy’ scene, a sing-along version of Inky Pinky Parlez Vous and the hilarious ‘fireplace’ scene, which is seemingly so notorious that two people had told me about it before we turned up to watch the show!
There is not a weak link in the seven strong cast.
Pellman and Geurin have us on the edge of our seats with their will-they/won’t-they romance, Vale’s has us in stitches with her preposterously wicked antics as the evil Empress and Sarah-Louise Young leaves her policeman’s uniform behind to become a very funny Gene the Genie (think Liam Gallagher) for act two.
Young’s soaring rendition of Space Man (which accompanied a series of dramatic tableaux of the characters fleeing from a Chinese lion), brought the house down.
Big mentions should also go to David Herzog, who is so deliciously evil as Abanazar that after the requisite booing dies down, you could hear a pin drop at the moment that his evil plans came to fruition, and Will Cousins, whose portrayal of Wishee-Washee is simultaneously chock-full of so much silliness and pathos that all the time the kids are laughing at him, the mums all want to hug him and tell him it’s going to be OK.
This is the real brilliance of a Big Tiny panto – it’s not JUST a panto, it has heart. The funny bits aren’t just funny, they’re hilarious. The dramatic bits aren’t just dramatic, they’re nail biting.
The magical bits aren’t just magical, they’re moving and all of it is woven together with such craftsmanship and love that you leave feeling not only entertained, but edified.
At the end of the show, Wishee-Washee asks the audience to shout out what they liked the most. The first answer that comes back from a little boy on the front is “Wishee-Washee” (and to be fair, he’s so brilliant, it’s a very reasonable answer), but then a young girl shouted out “everything” – we all agreed.
Spectacular, joyous, marvellous. If we could give it six stars, we would.
You can catch Aladdin every day until December 31 at the Millgate Arts Centre, Delph.
Tickets cost £17 for adults and £14 for children. You get two-and-a-half hours of unabashed delight. If that isn’t good value for money in our cash-strapped times, we don’t know what is!
It doesn’t surprise me that Dominic is reviewed as brilliant in this production- he’s brilliant in everything he does.
Best panto I’ve seen – and I’ve seen a lot. Two little ones loved it and wanted to see it again immediately
First time visit to Millgate,s Xmas Panto,
Best Panto ever ,I ,my son and Granddaughter never stopped laughing and were amazed at at the whole production,costumes,stage props, and its very talented cast.An absolute credit to the company.
We will be back .