Aladdin At St Helens Theatre Royal Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Dottie Rood

Well, what excellent timing for a Christmas pantomime! I had just spent the entire day putting up my Christmas decorations (some may say a little early but most are saying I’m a little bit late!) so I was ready to continue the Christmas spirit and celebrate with a pantomime, bring it on!  We are off to St Helens Theatre Royal to see Aladdin.  I found two very willing granddaughters (one who is five and one who is nearly seven) to come with me and off we went (all very, very excited!).

This is a lovely small to medium sized theatre that has a lovely welcoming atmosphere, friendly helpful staff and lots of parking nearby so we were off to a good start.  They offer a variety of drinks, including tea and coffee, really welcome on a freezing cold evening, and a variety of snacks (oh and ice cream of course).  The seating is comfortable and most seats appear to offer a good view for all.  We were ready for the show!

We all knew the story of Aladdin (played by Alex Aram) (although the younger granddaughter was a bit unsure, she did know it had a Genie and maybe, “a mat?”) so we were ready for a ‘baddie’, (Abanazer played by Liam Fox) a Princess (played by Jess Smith) and a Genie (played by Tim Lucas) plus hopefully some familiar Pantomime characters!  We were not disappointed, Aladdin lived with his ‘hapless’ brother Wishee Washee (played by Lewis Devine) and his mum, Widow Twankey (played by Richard Aucott).  As the story unfolded of Aladdin trying to outwit Abanazer, who was planning to take over the world, plus also trying to win the heart of his true love Princess Jasmine, the other characters came into their own.  We had Warren Donnelly as PC Shameless joining the main story telling and they are really well supported by dancers, Lucie Deakin (dance captain), Daisy Colebourn, Ruby Faulkner, Katie Cassidy, Millie Eaton, Ella Craddock, Callum Fairfield and Jack Trafford.

The story loosely followed the format that we knew with some really funny sections that made it into a pantomime. Some of the standout moments were the use of boards showing the wrong lyrics to a variety of familiar songs, Aladdin and Widow Twankey on the phones and ‘swapping’ their lines to interact with each other, the use of songs to tell the story of Aladdin and Jasmine and of course the very new and different use of the 3D effects when Aladdin goes on a carpet ride!  The singing, dancing and comedy one-liners were also really good, especially when the Genie or Widow Twankey were on stage.  The standout characters were the Genie, who was brilliant at different accents, copying some of the other characters and generally keeping everything on track, and of course the irrepressible Widow Twankey with the fantastic outfits (many of which he makes and designs himself, I counted at least nine costume changes!) and larger than life character which made both myself and the children laugh out loud every time she came on stage.

If I had one small criticism it would be the repeating of lots of songs, dances and actions from a previous pantomime I had seen here at Easter time however that is more from an adult’s perspective as opposed to the children’s as even though they had seen the previous one they still thoroughly enjoyed this one (as did I!).

I must also mention Leanne Campell (playing Genie in the Mirror) who appeared via the power of video projection in a large drop-down mirror to ‘narrate’ parts of the story and explain aspects of the tale of Aladdin.  Aladdin is written by Liam Mellor, presented by Regal Entertainments LTD, produced and directed by Chantelle Nolan, plus creative producer Jane Joseph, company manager Anthony Proctor and many more in the creative team.

This is a feel good pantomime with reasonably priced tickets, the 3D section adds another dimension that makes it well worth a visit.

Rating: 5/5

Tickets cost from: £21.00

Aladdin is at St Helens Theatre Royal, Corporation Street, St Helens,WA101LQ

From: Saturday 2nd December 2023 to Sunday 14th January 2024

For more information or to book tickets visit: www.sthelenstheatreroyal.com or call box office on: 01744756000