A pantomime dancer once described to me her buzz of excitement, as the band starts to play, just before the curtain goes up. Tonight, I felt that buzz, all the way through the show.
It fizzed – from the moment Fairy Goodheart (the exquisitely voiced Julia J Nagle) made her glittering entrance, right through to the walk down. I never wanted this show to end. It is a Christmas box of sparkling delights and surprises.
The time honoured fairytale of Cinderella has some new twists, a lot of new gags (both visual and vocal) and enough of the old ones to make us feel at home. That is the charm of pantomime.
When you are a child, you laugh at the jokes because you haven’t heard them before. When you are an adult, you laugh because you have heard them before. You chuckle as you see them coming up.
The Arts Theatre panto – always delivered with polish and panache – is the start of Christmas for those of us lucky enough to see it. This year, it has excelled itself.
The sets are changed for almost every scene and there are well observed backdrops of two Cambridge Colleges, King’s, and Trinity. The costumes are inspired.
There are some really lovely, flattering clothes. I loved the gingham dresses for the dancers and the dusky pink suits for the Prince and Dandini for the ball.
Cinderella’s shimmering white ball gown made me realise why brides want to wear dresses like that. It looked so good on her.
Nagle’s Fairy Goodheart made me believe in her magic. Chloe Gentles’ Cinderella had real character – and indeed wasn’t she applying to study at Harvard.
Harry Howle and Steven Roberts as the Wicked Stepsisters, Claudia and Tess are wonderful caricatures. They first enter, lighting up the stage in a powerful number, dancing to Shania Twain’s Man I feel like a Woman. Harry’s Claudia looked about eight feet tall -with his heels and his wig. His dastardly expression was frankly alarming.
Our usual consummate Dame, Matt Crosby – who has been wearing dresses for the past two decades, is this year a brilliant Buttons who glides through the show – getting the audience to shout things and wave their hands.
The slap stick scene in Baron Hardup’s Dog Grooming Parlour -Vanity Fur – had the three of them sliding from one side of the stage to the other, losing their wigs, getting covered in goo with the audience in hysterics. “I hate this bit” said Crosby as he gets slapped in the face with gunge.
Another highlight was some fiendishly good tap dancing as part of the ballroom scene by Jack Wilcox as Prince Charming (he played him wonderfully as the type of handsome man you used to see on the front of knitting patterns.) The tap dance, joined in by the senior dancers, Cinderella and other members of the cast was a joy to see.
All the actors deserve a mention: Alex Bloomer as an elegant Dandini and Stuart Simons as Baron Hardup of Hardup College, give authoritative performances too.
Once again, written by Al Lockhart Morley, directed by Michael Gattrell, and produced by Dave Murphy, (who has just retired as the theatre’s chief executive) this home-grown Cambridge show is full of Cambridge references. “The ADC is so woke it’s gone broke”.
Pantomime is a compendium of art forms: of comedy and pathos, painting, dancing, singing, acting, writing, playing music, designing costume. This is a masterclass of how magical they are when they are all woven together with meticulous expertise. A bouquet of finesse. It looks effortless.
Cinderella at Cambridge Arts Theatre runs until January 5, 2025, with shows at various times. Box Office 01223 503333 or see: www.cambridgeartstheatre.com
Cinderella photos courtesy of Cambridge Arts Theatre and Richard Hubert Smith
