Review: ALADDIN, Orchard West
Photo credit: Paul Clapp, Limelight Studios
The story of the Dartford Orchard pantomime this year is, of course, that the headline star Linda Robson as Councillor Chigwell was unable to open the show after the rehearsals and after a few performances with an understudy, Anthony Costa of Blue fame, was drafted in as the councillor and father of Jasmine, Ruby Mann, for the run. It must have required some rewrites in Andrew Pollard’s good script as well as the insertion of Blue songs including ‘One Love’. Fortunately, with several other stars on the poster as well, it proved a relatively seamless transition.
Pollard’s script is a very traditional telling of the Aladdin story, although for cultural appropriation sensitivities he sets it in Dartfordia rather than Asia, and Abanazar becomes Sven Gali (played by Richard Foster-King). It is, as expected, a story of magic and mystery, and Sven opens the tale with a neat trick of combining sheets of torn paper into a huge sheet before magician Mandy Muden steps on stage as the Spirit of the Ring. She too adds a few simple tricks producing flowers and wands and making a balloon disappear. There are not big illusions, more comedy magic, but they fit the character well and we could have seen more. As with so many pantomimes this year, the Traitors, Jet2 Holidays and the 6-7 meme get easy laughs, but they also include a reference to the Coldplay concert audience cam!
The comedy is left to Riki Jay as Franky Panky with his infectious one liners word play comedy and the Dame, Jason Marc-Williams. There is a good running gag about awaiting a call from Luscious Lulu which engages the audience. They do include the classic comedy routines with a fresh food pun run to interrupt a story and musical lip sync gags. Both feel freshly updated, but the pace is not sharp enough and the audience response is muted. The traditional police chase and laundry scene in which a character is squashed flat is included but does feel laboured and a few beats too slow. Perhaps four shows in two days takes its toll.
The music, however, does lift the show with Aladdin (Cleve September) and the Princess opening the show with the rousing ‘Let Me Entertain You’, the Dame having fun with ‘Copacabana’, the Genie (Anton Stephens) delivering ‘Treasure’, Sven giving us ‘Born This Way’, and then together an ABBA medley. Aladdin also gets to fly on the magic carpet while singing ‘Top of the World’. The songsheet too is a lively rendition of ‘My Bonnie lies over the Ocean’, which has the whole audience bobbing up and down.
This is an enjoyable show, appreciated by the audience and making the most of the limitations of the temporary venue of Orchard West . It is good enough to get them returning next year when the main theatre reopens after refurbishment with an exciting digital set for Cinderella and once again demonstrates the commitment of Dartford Council and the venue staff to putting on the best show possible despite the additional challenges of the venue and cast changes!
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne
Aladdin plays at Orchard West in Dartford until 4 January, with further info here.