The Holiday and Travel Magazine: Cinderella - the Greatest Family Musical Pantomime of Them All!

Friday, 8 July 2016

Cinderella - the Greatest Family Musical Pantomime of Them All!

TIM MADDREN

There is something magical about fairytales. Seeing Cinderella brought to life on stage is truly magical.

Cinderella the Pantomime is currently being presented at the State Theatre in Sydney NSW Australia for a very limited season of only 2 weeks to coincide with the NSW school holidays.

I was fortunate to see the Wednesday matinee performance this week. All I can say is it was a fun show that all children, parents and grandparents should go along and see. I think we all need a break from the heavy election period and escape to the magical world of live theatre. During this cold bleak winter we just need to have a whole lot of fun. Cinderella provides the perfect opportunity to do this. It has plenty of great music and songs, colourful costumes, lively dancing, and slapstick & corny humour.

The best thing about Cinderella is that it is a terrific pantomime production with lots of audience participation. The audience is encouraged to boo the villains and cheer the heroes. At the matinee I attended the whole audience really got involved - the kids and the adults were soon yelling out at the top of their lungs at all the right moments.

Cinderella Cast

This is the third pantomime that Bonnie Lythgoe Productions has presented in Australia. Last year I went and saw the second of these, Aladdin, at the State Theatre. This was the first pantomime I'd ever seen. I enjoyed Aladdin, but I feel that Cinderella is a far better pantomime production in all aspects. Perhaps the staging is better, or the actors are more relaxed in their roles this year. Or it could be that I do not really know much about any of the stars in Cinderella. I just enjoyed what they did on stage rather than being dumbstruck by their reputations in the show business world.

JAIME HADWEN

JAIME HADWEN is a beautiful ‘Cinderella’ who dances and sings her way into all the audience's hearts. PETER EVERETT (Ready, Steady, Cook) is her father ‘Baron Hardup', who decides to remarry GINA LIANO the ‘Wicked Stepmother’. She arrives in a Housewives of Melbourne stylish way with her two daughters, played by CRAIG BENNETT and JOSH ANDERSON. These two men as the Ugly Stepsisters are delightfully funny dressed up in their outrageous wigs and clothes.

TIM MADDREN of the children's singing group Hi-5 is the adorable Prince Charming who is searching for a normal young lady to marry. It is when he swaps roles with his servant Dandini, played by JIMMY REES (MR GIGGLE), that he finds Cinderella in the forest.

LARA MULCHY

The two standout performers in the show are LARA MULCHY, who is the Fairy Godmother and KEV ORKIAN as ‘Buttons'. LARA performs her magic on the cast members and often says her lines in rhyming verse. KEV has a wonderful rapport with the younger members of the audience as he speaks to them directly. He is very funny.

The stage sets of Cinderella look like the pages of a fairytale story book opened up, with a slight resemblance to the adult colouring books that are all the rage at the moment. The black and white outlines are a wonderful backdrop to the colourful costumes worn by the characters. The lighting, including the mirror balls, sparkles on the sets. The fog machines create wonder. There is even falling snow at the end of the show. (Yes, it is winter...)

The singing by the cast is wonderful, with no bad singers amongst them. You will recognize many of the songs in the show as present-day and past pop songs. Some songs are just there for the sheer fun of it. They do not really have anything to do with the story of Cinderella, but are delightful additions that give space for the cast members to change costumes. The "12 Days of Winter" and "I am the Music Man" songs are hilarious.

The dancing in Cinderella is wonderfully choreographed and danced. In addition to the adult cast members, there are eight children in the show who do the dance numbers without putting a foot out of place. The children sparkle throughout the pantomime.

There were two standout scenes for me in Cinderella. One is the song sung on the stone wall with its hilarious slapstick comedy. The other is on the night of the Ball with the transformation of Cinderella into her beautiful ball gown and the appearance of the horse pulled carriage.

Cinderella & Prince Charming

Musical theatre should be enjoyed by all people of all ages. It was good to see that the matinee performance I attended was a signed performance with two Auslan Interpreters standing on the side of the stage. The vocal lines of the songs were interpreted into sign language for the benefit of partially or totally deaf people. Next Wednesday afternoon there will be a special relaxed performance of Cinderella presented at 2pm. This will be of interest to special needs children and adults who would like to experience the theatre. There will be fewer special effects and flashing lights so that a more calm atmosphere is created. All tickets for children and adults will just be $27.75.

Will Cinderella meet the man of her dreams? Will Prince Charming win our heroine’s heart? Or will the Ugly Sisters stop Cinderella from going to the ball? Come and find out at one of the morning, afternoon or evening performances of Cinderella. Come as an individual or as a family. Get a group of 10 or more together so that you can get reduced admission prices. I am sure that like me, you will be utterly charmed with Cinderella!