Every year since we met, my boyfriend and I have gone to see a Christmas play of some kind. It has become a tradition. This year, after feeling disappointed by the poorly-reimagined Alice in Winterland at the Rose Theatre Kingston last year, we opted for a pantomime. You never know what you're going to get with a panto, and I've never been to one since moving over to England in 2012, so we didn't really remember what we would be getting ourselves in for. Were we going to be the oldest people there without children, for example. We were not.
We chose this one based on Paul Merton being in it. We like him on Have I Got News for You, so why not? I'm glad to say he was a wonderful Widow Twanky, and he wore those ridiculous costumes well.
What was unexpected was the delightful Pete Firman, who played Wishy Washy, Aladdin's brother. Having never heard of this comedy magician/magic consultant, I will be looking into seeing more of him as he was wonderful. Like, how cool is the job of magic consultant? Upon reading it in the programme before the start of the show, I decided I liked him immediately cause it reminded me of Jonathan Creek.
The comedic chemistry between Merton and Firman was by far the best part of this. I think Merton spends every show trying to think up new ways to put Firman off his lines, and I'm up for that.
Lee Ryan was, expectedly, a perfect Aladdin. He was an idiot, and just useless. The way he should be portrayed. I was not expecting his off-key renditions of his own Blue songs. I was confused why he seemed to not actually know the words to his own songs, but regardless they were okay. I believed in the idea he and the equally-stupid Princess Jasmine would live happily ever after.
Everyone just seemed to have fun with it, and I had fun too. It was by far the most high-tech panto I've seen - it even had some 3D special effects. They were rubbish, but meh I'm a cynical adult. The kids in the show seemed to love them. I think panto may be the new Christmas tradition, if I can convince my boyfriend to see another one.
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