Pantomime
Cinderella
King’s Glasgow
****
Sleeping Beauty
King’s Edinburgh
****
Mary Brennan
Joy unalloyed! The Pantosphere is back in business with Crossroads Pantomimes ensuring that Glasgow and Edinburgh both have the kind of spectacular, fun-filled family show that cheering audiences have clearly missed.
In Glasgow, Elaine C Smith goes her whole-hearted dinger as the Fairy Godmother who makes Cinderella’s dreams come true - perennially (and brilliantly) cheeky chappie, Johnny Mac, brings just enough pathos to Buttons for tinies near me to harbour ill will towards Prince Charming.
The well established comedic rapport between Smith and Mac allows for the high speed juggling of wordplay to live dangerously - ‘she sits and shines’ becomes a tongue-twister that delights audiences when slip ups occur!
With Darren Brownlie’s knowingly camp wee Glesca’ Dandini as an arch asset to all this, the familiar plot sits back and allows the comedy to take centre-stage in a glittering production.
Prepare to suspend disbelief - over in Edinburgh, good Queen May (Allan Stewart) and evil Carabosse (Grant Stott) are identical twin sisters! Cue much cut and thrust banter between these time-honoured sparring partners, with Stott in full-on sequinned flounce mode and Stewart happy to put on the swank while delivering gleeful jibes.
As ever, their verbal jousting works a treat with Jordan Young as Muddles the Jester holding his own when it comes to rapid patter and acting the galoot. The Sleeping Beauty story-line visits occasionally, but the emphasis is on entertaining daftness, albeit tinged with wistful awareness that the remarkable Andy Gray is no longer with us.
All spats are finally resolved with the words ‘King Andy loved happy endings…’ The touching tribute to Gray is matched by outpourings of warmest applause from the audience for whom Sleeping Beauty brought mirth and mischievous back on-stage. Hurrah!
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