The days when Abanazar was an out-and-out Middle Eastern villain are perhaps numbered. Instead writers Joanna Read and Stuart Thomas have made him a recession-hit banker. Peter Holdway, who knows how to put over a number even when the audience is cheerfully booing his character, revels in the part. Our hero is Craig Fletcher, whose Aladdin has a neat line in inventions – including a lie-detector, and he’s matched by a high-kicking Jasmine (Frances McNamee), very much a self-assured (not to say self-willed) 21st century princess.
Wishy and Washy are conflated into Daniel Curtis, a good-natured brother who always seems to get the awkward jobs in Widow Twankey’s laundry establishment. Alexander Delamere is a no-nonsense type of Dame carrying off some of Cleo Pettitt‘s more outrageous costumes, notably a dragon-writhing one for the walk-down. As the Emperor, Donovan Blackwood offers a more rounded characterisation that the part sometimes offers; he has a fine singing voice. Bethan Mary-James is a distinctly “not bovvered” Spirit of the Ring as well as PC Ping; Adam Ewan doubles Pong and a surfing dude Genie of the Lamp. Kate Saxon directs with Matt Greenwood in the pit..
