All that building work is behind them and oh yes it is the first Rock’n’Roll panto in Theatr Clwyd’s beautifully revamped space!
Cinderella has to be one of the best pantos with its classic story of good prevailing over evil and celebrating true friendship as much as it does romantic love.
Phylip Harries
Set designer Adrian Gee has outdone himself this year with a gorgeous snow globe set, beautifully painted and layered to subtly and easily create so many different settings with no disruption of flow whatsoever. Johanna Town’s lighting is on point as usual too and I really enjoyed musical director Tayo Akinbode’s selection of tunes, from APT to Everything She Does is Magic, to Firework to Let’s Get it On.
Lorde’s Royals particularly was performed to perfection by King Benedict and Queen Beatrice, Joe Butcher and Chioma Uma.
I enjoyed the baddies, the stepsisters Sam and Ella Hardup, (below) and Celia Cruwys-Finnigan I felt gave good baddie, preferring her performance to her previous stint as the romantic lead.
There has to be a shout out to Buttons and Dandini, Robert Wade and Steve Simmonds respectively, for their fresh takes on the old classic roles. Dandini’s eccentricity was enjoyable, as was the return of the panto badger, who appears just because…and for someone raised on Roland Rat, Basil Brush and co, why not?
Originally from Mancot, Rhianna Goodwin made her Rock’n’Roll panto debut as Cinders and didn’t disappoint, gelling very well with Elliot Parchment-Morrison as Prince Charming.
Leading proceedings is the glamorous and charismatic Georgina White as Fairy G, both Cinderella’s fairy godmother and our narrator. Not to mention playing the saxophone and bassoon and belting out some cracking numbers.
Rhianna Goodwin
The multiple talents of the cast cannot be underestimated – they sing, they dance, they play at least two or three instruments each.
On his 18th Theatr Clwyd panto run, Phylip Harries shines as always, this year as Dame Hettie Hardup, with his witty one-liners, hilarious face-pulling and mischievous off-piste moments. Any mention of the dame must be accompanied by praise of her fabulous costumes – this year including nods to My Fair Lady and Beauty and the Beast among others – and as spectacular as ever. Hats off to the costume team too for a terrific transformation that I will not describe – no spoilers!
Cinderella was a Rock’n’Roll panto on top form – top-tier tunes, jolly jokes, ace acting, cute costumes and lots and lots of laughs.
https://www.theatrclwyd.com/event/cinderella
Until January 17
Images by Andrew AB
What a lovely funny witty show and all the characters were really good and worked so hard as a team they deserve all the luck in there careers