Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review
Madcap magical pantomime returns to De Monfort Hall for another year of top family entertainment. The venue once again teams up with Imagine Theatre to serve up and a large scale panto in the beautiful surroundings of the hall.
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| Divina de Campo as Queen Morgiana |
The story follows the traditional beats as Queen Morgiana asks 'who is the fairest of them all?'. We learn that Snow White is set to become this upon her 18th birthday, so evil Morgiana plots to rid the world of Snow White for good. The sweeping fairy tale is full of colourful and bundles of silliness.
Returning favourites include Sam Bailey, Jack Ballard and Jarred Christmas with Divina de Campo and Tash Bacarese-Hamilton joining along for the adventure.
Sam Bailey as The Spirit of the Mirror showcases her vocal prowess with real flair including a brilliant rendition of Queen's 'I Want To Break Free'. Bailey has strong stage prescence and clearly always relishes returning to panto.
Jack Ballard is back for his second year as the Dame, here playing Nurse Nora. There's real confidence and asurity to Ballard's performance. There's a naughty twinkle to his role and that makes him a treat to watch.
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| Tash Bacarese-Hamilton as Snow White, Jarred Christmas as Muddles and Jack Ballard as Nurse Nora |
Jarred Christmas also returns as taking on the comic role of Muddles. Christmas plays shows both to adults and kids in his stand-up career and the natural way he interacts with the audience and the other characters on the stage. He relishes in making people laugh and you can't help but warm to him every time he comes on stage.
In Divina de Campo the venue has struck total gold. de Campo is a sensational villain as Queen Morgiana. She is a hoot delivering the right level of nastiness but keeps you completely drawn in to the character. Her striking look and wickedness is ramped up to 100 and every time she is on stage the audience relish booing and hissing.
Tash Bacarese-Hamilton does get a little lost in the shadows as the titular Snow White. It's by no means down to performance, she is simply given very little to work with. It's only in the final scenes that the role is allowed to come into it's own and then she stands up as a role model for female empowerment (a theme that maybe could been mined a bit more).
With a last minute casting change choreographer Stuart Rogers has had to step into the role of Prince Laurence for a few performances before Antony Costa takes over the role. Rogers does an admirable job in doing so. He fits well into the world and into the character. Striking up a nice relationship with Bacarese-Hamilton's Snow White.
Talking of choreography, Rogers has achieved some of the strongest dancing I've seen in panto this or any other year. Whether it's the adult or junior ensemble the dancing is slickly performed. The musical numbers are fleshed out with punchy movement that has the company in synchronised movement. There's some esquite moments of balletic movement in the forest.
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| Sam Bailey as The Spirit of the Mirror |
The adult ensemble also puppeteer the dwarves. Each one is given their own personality and brought to life with great playfulness by the cast. The individuality is imagined brilliantly and they are wonderfully fun characters to have in the show. Puppetry director Abigail Matthews has done a fantastic job.
Even with a total of 19 different scenes the pantomime flies by at such a pace that I was surprised by the time we got to the interval, I could happily enjoyed a few more scenes! There are some standout moments throughout including the 12 Days of Christmas which has become a staple of most pantomime productions. The 5 toilet rolls are thrown around the audience and the speed of the number ramps up the humour. The song sheet is always a great moment as the kids and Muddles’ audience stooge are brought up to join in.
On a minor negative, the sound isn't always the cleanest, particularly in a couple of the musical numbers where the balance is a little off. Maybe this will be ironed out after a few more performances.
Snow White will entertain and enchant all audiences. The festive playfulness of the cast helps to tell this story with heart and humour. With the sensational Divina de Campo, this is one of the fairest pantomime offerings of them all this Christmas.
Snow White plays at De Montfort Hall until Sunday 5th January 2025. Tickets are available from https://www.demontforthall.co.uk/
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| The full company. |
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