Aladdin at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking Review

Aladdin
New Victoria Theatre, Woking

5 December 2014 to 10 January 2015

www.atgtickets.com/new-victoria-theatre

Review by Christine Charlesworth

Last night I went, with my family, to see Aladdin at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. As we approached Woking all the Christmas lights were shining and there was a huge Christmas tree lit up in Jubilee Square, which we admired on our walk to the theatre. As we got nearer to the entrance we had to pass through throngs of extremely excited children, some wearing flashing gloves, others carrying multi-coloured whizzing fans. Mums and Dads, Grannies and Granddads, Teachers, Carers, Brown-Owls and Scout-pack leaders were some of the equally excited adults mingling with the children as we made our way slowly through the throng. It was definitely ‘Pantomime Time’ in this popular theatre and the buzz of excitement could be felt in all three floors of lounges at the theatre, with standing room only in the piano bar.

After taking our seats in the centre stalls I took time to look around the theatre. It was packed and, even though it was an evening performance, very young children had come to the performance, some as young as 2 or 3. There were large groups from several schools, Guide and Brownie packs and several ‘Birthday Party’ groups who all had a cheering acknowledgment from Wishee Washee at the end of the performance.

The performance started with a large ‘screen’ coming down in front of the fire curtain and a very loud film of clips from pantomimes in the past 300 years, with the history being explained by Brian Blessed.

Then the curtain rose, the audience cheered, and the pantomime began.

Although we all know the story of Aladdin, every pantomime is slightly different. This production, written by Eric Potts and directed by Will Brenton, stayed with the well-known format but added a few surprises to keep the audience delighted throughout.

We had some well-known faces in the cast but the performer who shone was Justin Fletcher as Wishee Washee, brother of Aladdin. Justin worked extremely hard throughout the evening with great energy, humour, improvisation and excellent timing. He was particularly good at working the audience and when he had four children up to help him sing an interpretation of ‘Old MacDonald’s Farm’ he was wonderful with a young boy who was painfully shy, helping the boy to feel at ease instead of wanting to hide behind his hands or run away.

Ben Adams (a1 group) as Aladdin  was extremely confident on stage and, with his cheeky grin, had the young girls in the audience enthralled and wanting to get up and dance at every opportunity (as were the Mums).

Steven Serlin was a wonderfully evil Abanazar whom the audience loved to hate and Shaheen Jafargholi as Genie of the Lamp sang everything instead of speaking, to great effect, and  I loved his dimples and cheeky smile.

There were some lively dance routines, choreographed by Joanne McShane, with some of the dancers showing the flexibilities of their bodies without even bringing tears to their eyes. The stage was sometimes filled by the Citizens of Peking, often joined by members of the Juveniles, who all displayed good stage presence. The lighting and costumes were excellent although, unfortunately, the sound was extremely loud and quite painful at times.

Some of the most entertaining scenes were those in the Wishy Washy laundry which had even the grumpy old Dads laughing out loud and the children loved the washing-mangle bit.  Widow Twanky played by Jason Sutton was hilarious in the dance routine with a balloon and the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ song  had the audience in stitches, even if a few of us got a little wet.

A great family entertainment to suit young and old.

Rating: 4/5

Tickets cost from £13.90 to £42.40 (plus £2.85 transaction fee).

Aladdin is at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking until 10 January 2015. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 871 7645.

New Victoria Theatre, The Ambassadors, Peacocks Centre, Woking, Surrey, GU21 6GQ