Everybody loves a panto at Christmas, and each year the Watford Palace Theatre comes up trumps delivering a fun-filled show stuffed to the gills with enough heart, humour and local references to keep all the family happy!
Under the capable direction of James Williams, Watfordians can once again be confident that this year's panto, 'Cinderella', lives up to expectations. From the moment you step into the auditorium you are greeted with a colourful, eye-popping stage celebrating a plethora of Watford High Street landmarks. From Gibson's Butchers to Jackson Jewellers, and from the iconic spiral car park to the Harlequin Centre (we'll never forget!), such careful thought and detail has been put into making the Cinderella story feel rooted in our town.
Terrence Frisch returns as our beloved dame, Fanny G in this incarnation, who seems a woman of many talents, running a market stall, spinning the discs as a DJ, and of course being Cinderella's fairy godmother! Frisch has a winning way with the Watford audience, building a quick, comfortable rapport and landing cheeky asides with confidence.
Soleil Quarless as Cinderella and Samuel Wolstenholme as the Prince were nicely matched as our romantic couple, her evident poise and kindness seeming a perfect fit for his more awkward 'nerdiness' (but nerd in a good way, as Cinderella remarks!). Of the two it's Wolstenholme who really gets to interact with the audience. While Quarless gets shouted at during the 'they're behind you' scene (the intensity of shouts on the night I attended was testament to the engagement of the adults in the audience as well as the children, what a roar!) it's the Prince who gets to wow them with his dancing and super-speed flossing!
The most original element of this Cinderella tale is the inclusion of her best friend Furby (played by Mark Pearce), a fluffy pink 90s throwback who had the kids squealing with delight. The story is set on New Year's Eve 1999, so lots of retro-references are included which help keep the adults entertained. The idea of a human size Furby might terrify mums and dads, but the kids were enchanted by his playful innocence, especially when he cheekily played with favourite words like 'fuzzlebum'. I imagine many households are gearing up to hear that particular word repeated endlessly over the rest of the festive season!
The ugly sisters can be difficult to cast in our more sensitive age, but here were played hilariously by Luke Farrugia as Christina and Lucia Vinyard as Britney. More 90s references to enjoy of course, but cleverly their singing styles actually matched their pop princess namesakes. Farrugia was a particularly impressive vocalist whose runs and riffs would have easily earned him a place in any 90s pop group.
I went with my 4 year old nephew who, I'm delighted to report, was captivated with the story and characters, and whose favourite bit was watching Cinderella fly off to Pinner Palace in her Peasy Jet plane. He did get restless toward the end and I wonder if the 2 and a half hour running time is a bit long for younger audience members, but he certainly left singing the songs (of the retro soundtrack, the more up to date Harry Styles 'As It Was' turned out to be an audience favourite!) and full of smiles.
Overall, a highly recommended festive treat for all the family!
