Explosions, a flying horse, a fairy godmother with a thick Brummie twang and The Krankies in fine form – panto season in Wolverhampton is well and truly underway.
Thousands of visitors both young and old will flock to the city’s Grand Theatre over the next month-and-a-half to check out this year’s offering of Cinderella.
Billed as ‘the greatest panto of them all’, Cinderella has everything you could want, or indeed expect, from a pantomime, from the dastardly evil villain, the dashing prince, the sugary-sweet leading lady and plenty of slapstick comedy.
This was provided mainly by The Krankies, whose energetic, high-spirited and charming performance made them a big hit with last night’s audience. It was Janette Krankie’s uncanny portrayal of Britain’s Got Talent finalist Susan Boyle that sparked the biggest laugh of the night.
Recreating SuBo’s now infamous first audition, she donned a wig, thick black eyebrows and her best singing voice to take off her fellow Scot with ease. Neighbours villain Stefan Dennis, best known for his role as Paul Robinson, fitted the role of Dandini well, played with a Gollum-esque feel.
His scheming was matched only by that of the ugly sisters, aka Trinny and Susannah, played by Ben Stock and Nathan Kiley.
The beautiful Danielle York, playing Cinderella was just as you would expect the pantomime princess to be – enchanting, gentle and sickly sweet. She was well-matched with her Prince Charming, the impossibly tall Nic Greenshields.
Former X Factor semi-finalist Niki Evans played the Fairy Godmother. Her vocals were impressive throughout.
The backdrops were well thought-out and seamlessly engineered. But it was a flying horse and carriage, whisking Cinderella to the ball at the end of the first half, that was most impressive. This year’s panto is everything it should be – heckles and insults were merrily banded about and the crowd left smiling. And that’s just the way we like it. Oh yes we do.
- Catherine Dalton
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