Cinderella: Sunderland Empire
December 12, 2007
Cinderella Sunderland Empire until January 6th
Pantomime has returned to the Sunderland Empire for the first time in a few years with a production of Cinderella that is glitzy, glamorous and great fun.
We still have Cinderella, as the young girl who is put upon by here sisters and cannot return the love shown to her by Buttons as she has met the man of her dreams Prince Charming, if only she could marry him. But as we expect her fairy Godmother sorts it all out and we are left with a happy ending.
In this version of the show we have a real life living legend playing Cinderella’s father Baron Hardup, the 87 year old Mickey Rooney. This is his first pantomime and there was certainly a large part of the audience who were there to see him. While Baron Hardup is a small role in the show , he joined in different scenes and became the cabaret at the princes ball . When he sang in that scene, he said as a passing comment that the song was a favourite of his friend Fred Astaire.
It was at that point that you realised the true legend that was standing in front of you, he has appeared with the likes of Spencer Tracy, has an Oscar and his films with Judy Garland are the stuff dreams are made of. There were large parts of the audience that could not appreciate the importance of the star in front of them as they were too young to know, but those of us who did, showed our appreciation at the curtain call. How many real stars are left today? Well you can see one in Sunderland this Christmas.
Playing opposite Mickey is his wife Jan who plays the Fairy Godmother, she has a lovely singing voice and appeared to be really enjoying herself. I was unsure if it was her American accent or lack of knowledge of pantomimes that meant the rhyming couplets the Fairy speaks in appeared to be lost. But that was soon forgiven by the quality of the production.
The glue holding the show all together are Les Dennis (Buttons) and Dale Meeks (Dandini) they know pantomime and how to perform it and it shows. Back in panto for the first time in 10 years Dennis grabs the role with both hands and never gives anything less than 110%. While Meeks, in the thankless role of Dandini manages to link back to his TV performance in Emmerdale and make us appreciate he is a local boy that has made good. Together they performed a hilarious twelve days of Christmas routine, which literally stopped the show. Special mention at this point must be made to David Anderson , from the chorus, who joined the pair for the routine.
The ugly sisters are played by Chris Dennis (Sam) and Richard Pollock (Amanda) and they immediately have the children booing and appearing in more and more outrageous outfits.
Real life husband and wife Andy Scott Lee and Michelle Heaton (Liberty X) are Prince Charming and Cinderella respectively. They both look the part and have great singing voices, but appear uncomfortable or overawed by their roles. Hopefully, after a few performances with Dennis they will learn to relax and enjoy themselves.
This show appeals on many levels, it’s a great traditional pantomime, with no gimmicks, beautiful scenery and costumes as well as plenty of clean family fun. But it has that added extra value by having the opportunity to see one of our last real living Hollywood stars, for that the Sunderland Empire must be applauded. But regardless of Mickey Rooney they still have a first rate show on their hands and have announced that next years show Aladdin is already booking, it has a lot to live up to.
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