Review: SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, Alhambra Theatre Bradford
Photo credit: Phil Tragen
Besties, we have covered a lot of pantomimes across the country this festive season and we recently went on a four venue road trip to take a look at some of the greatest exponents of the genre of the last twenty years. Between them: Iain Lauchlan, the Dame and writer of Sleeping Beauty at the Belgrade Theatre Coventry; Craig Revel Horwood as the Baroness in Cinderella at Nottingham Theatre Royal; Damian Williams, Dame Dolly in Aladdin at Lyceum Sheffield; and Billy Pearce as The Man in the Mirror in Snow White at Bradford Alhambra have completed over ninety pantomimes. Each in their own way demonstrates their love of the genre and years of experience in the execution of the routines and engagement of the audiences. You will have to wait until next year now to see the first three, but you can still catch Pearce until 18 January in Bradford.
Pearce is a Bradford pantomime legend, and this is his 25th season at the Alhambra. The show revolves around him, and his bubbly personality dominates the stage and the auditorium. He is a naturally funny man and makes even the simplest of lines hilarious. You can also hear and see his additions to Alan McHugh’s standard Snow White script which elevates the show to a whole new level. He teams up well with Myra Dubois as Queen Lucretia and they bounce off each other in a number of very well-timed comic routines, keeping them feeling fresh and spontaneous even though the show has already been playing for a month. The ‘Pleasant Pheasant Plucker’ tongue twister is masterfully delivered by them, and the standard ‘12 Days of Christmas’ is executed with good comic discipline and variation to please the crowd. Pearce adds gags throughout, the best when for a while he is seen rubbing his hands over his chest and when asked why replies, “the Doctor told me I should touch myself whenever I wanted”, only to be corrected that he had been told that he “could have a stroke at any time”. He also refreshes the classic backing singing routine with Prof (Jamie John) and The Spirit (Sinitta). Of course, Traitors, Gladiators and perhaps more surprising Andrew, formerly known as Prince, get amusing references.
Sinitta adds some musical interludes including her hit single ‘So Macho’, and Sarah Pearson (Snow White) and Callum Connolly (Princess) duet well together with the excellent ensemble. The Magnificent Seven remain bit players arriving briefly at the start on a train and returning later in scenes in their cottage. They certainly look the part, and we can hear all of their lines, although we miss the Disney names and songs, and they are not given too much business to do. They do at least set up a reference to the 6-7 meme, which delights the kids in the audience and bemuses the adults.
The Twin FX team adds some impressive magic to the show with their brilliant helicopter over the audience to end Act 1 to take Billy back to the Palace that has everyone marvelling about how it was done, and Pearce suggesting to a young girl in the songsheet that he flies it down from Leeds airport every show! Later, the dragon to fly the Queen back to the woods is equally dramatic.
Billy Pearce may be approaching seventy-five, but he brings plenty of energy, and years of experience to the stage and like so many of the “old school” comedians looks like once he is in the spotlight, he does not want to go off. It gives each appearance a freshness and joy that you don’t want to end and extends the show to two hours thirty minutes. When he says goodbye at the end, expressing the joy of the “gift of laughter”, we all share that feeling and leave uplifted, celebrating the delight of another wonderful pantomime. It’s a pantomime masterclass from one of the best and many of those TV stars/celebrities around the country could learn how to embellish a script and connect with the audience in the way he, Iain Lauchlan, Craig Revel Horwood, and Damian Williams do with their audiences.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Nick Wayne