Review- Aladdin
Date Reviewed: 23rd November, 2008
Venue: Oldham Coliseum
It’s that time of year again. Theatres are now starting to fill with the sound of children’s laughter and screams as the pantomime season gets under way. This year the Oldham Coliseum offers us Aladdin, with very little extraneous glitz – just the traditional ideals. Full of old and very obvious jokes, and strange versions of pop songs, the basic format hasn’t changed since I was a nipper; but it still appeals to the child in all of us.
Andonis Anthony makes a fun Abanazer and creates a good interaction with the audience. His costume is a delight in spoof dressing. However I felt he could be more menacing: he was just too nice and too well spoken.
Richard J Fletcher as Wishee Washee was a little slow to warm up but quickly gets the audience going. The children loved his slapstick humour and he had excellent delivery and timing.
If not excellently played, the Dame can cause a pantomime to fail on many levels. Extra credit must go to Fine Time Fontayne as Widow Twanky who carried the show with endearing ease. From the top of his beehive wig in one costume to the tips of his red wellies in another, this Dame was nothing less than the star of the show. Sailing through bad jokes, physical comedy and malfunctioning props with a constant smile and ability to laugh at himself, Fontayne made it look effortless.
Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said of the principal boy and principal girl. Amy Rhiannon Worth as Aladdin has a good voice and is able to handle the role, but doesn’t really have the necessary charisma to make this a central character, despite all the thigh slapping. Maria Watton-Graham as Princess Jasmine is the weaker of the two and is never really able to generate the same popularity as other characters. She also has a voice that grated on my nerves, which didn’t help create any fellow feeling for her.
Aimee Thomas as the Slave of the Ring and Barrie Ryan English as the Genie both did good jobs with Thomas creating one of the more memorable characters. Her comic timing and Northern accent made her charming and enjoyable to watch.
The cast was rounded out by a rather forgettable Emperor played by Howard Chadwick and a team of eight child and teenage dancers who also covered the odd speaking role where necessary. Unfortunately eight actors and eight dancers doesn’t really fill the stage.
The sets and costumes by Celia Perkins were generally excellent, especially the Widow Twanky costumes, but the set could have done with being darker in theme for the scene set in the cave where the gentle greys and mauves really did nothing to convey any sort of darkness and oppression.
This may not be the most lavish pantomime production but it is good wholesome fun for the family and worth a trip to Oldham to see pantomime done in a way that happily keeps the old traditions going.
-Helen Jones
April 10th, 2010 at 11:19 am
the panto was exelent ,i think we all agree that fine time fontayne as widow twankey was the star of the show.there are allot of comments i thought were a bit unfair specaily the one about adonis anthony ithought he was wonderfull he played a very sort of johnny depp (captain jack)character.celia perkins is an extreemly creative person her ideas are very uniqe and different.i agree more or less about the coment made about the emperor yet those kind of characters are hard to make popular whith the audience.
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