There will be dance, there will be songs, and you know there will be a happy ending. This year’s Cambridge Arts Theatre pantomime is Cinderella -where you get not one pantomime dame but two. They are horrible, they are funny, their costumes will be sublime. What would Cinderella be without her Ugly Sisters? The show opens next month. Christmas is alarmingly (or should that be excitingly) near.
Opening on Thursday, November 28, when there will be off-peak priced tickets, and running until Sunday, January 5, the rather impressive cast has just been announced. Last year, over 30,000 people saw Cambridge Arts Theatre’s award-winning Mother Goose.
The show was nominated for two UK Pantomime Awards, Best Ensemble and Best Choreographer and won the Best Ensemble award.
Returning for his nineteenth Arts Theatre pantomime is Matt Crosby, who will be starring as Buttons.
Crosby has been the theatre’s beloved pantomime dame since 2012. Last year he played Gertie Goose in Mother Goose, the year before he was Sarah the Cook in Dick Whittington.
He last played Buttons in 2011’s Cinderella. Generally, the theatre revolves four shows: Cinderella, Dick Whittington, Jack and the Beanstalk and Aladdin.
Crosby’s television work includes Nolly, where Helena Bonham Carter played Noel Gordon star of Crossroads. He has also appeared in Coronation Street.
Chloe Gentles will star as Cinderella. Her West End credits include The Addams Family at the London Palladium as well as Beauty and the Beast at Newbury Corn Exchange and, Mamma Mia! In the UK and international tour.
Chloe was in the original cast of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh.
As for the Ugly Sisters doing it for themselves, we have Harry Howle and Steven Roberts.
Howle has given his Ugly Sister performances across the nation at several prestigious venues. Roberts was in Cambridge Arts Theatre’s Mother Goose last year as Sammy Goose. His other credits include Normality (The Other Palace) and The Secret Garden (York Theatre Royal).
Expect some lovely voices. Prince Charming is Jack Wilcox who has appeared in the musicals Singin’ in the Rain, Crazy For You and Saturday Night Fever.
Julia j Nagle who is playing Fairy Goodheart has also been in Singin’ in the Rain and the Sound of Music.
Stuart Simons, playing Baron Hardup has been in Betty Blue Eyes and Stephen Sondheim’s Passion.
Alex Bloomer, who is Dandini, has been in The Lion King in the West End and the UK tour.
Cinderella’s story is well-known, well-loved, and international. We all warm to the tale of the girl who starts as a skivvy and ends up as a princess.
Though if the story were written nowadays, she wouldn’t need a man to make the transformation, she’d become an influencer.
The show has been written by Al Lockhart Morley who has been writing pantos for the Arts for the past 10 years and directed by Michael Gattrell who has directed the past two pantos.
Cinderella opens on Thursday 28 November 2024 and runs until Sunday 5 January 2025.
The ensemble comprises of Taylor Alman, Danielle Cato, Oliver Imeson, Sophie Karaolis, Samuel Lithco and Sarah Jane Lowe.
For more information and ticket prices visit https://www.cambridgeartstheatre.com/
