Get Out More..........................Panto Review

ALADDIN (Birmingham Hippodrome, until Jan 27)

22-12-2007

Get ready for Bogglevision, mega underpants and John Barrowman says Pete Millington, who took his five year old daughter Alice along to enjoy the fun.

There’s nothing more exciting of a dark and wintry night than a trip to town in your best bib and tucker to see the panto and this year there’s an even warmer glow than usual inside Birmingham’s celebrated palace of costume, song and hilarity as the Hippodrome celebrates 50 years of pantomime.

How totally appropriate then to celebrate this impressive milestone in enduringly popular and peculiarly British live festive entertainment with a pantomime that has just about absolutely everything, including the magic 3D glasses and the mega underpants.

The sets are opulent, the costumes dazzling, the special effects thrilling and best of all, the gags as unashamedly corny, indecorous yet guffaw inspiring as they no doubt were back in 1957 when Beryl Reid, Reg Dixon and Audrey Jeans swapped double-entendres about Jack’s big beanstalk and the cow kicked the dame up her bright red spotted bloomers.

The Hippodrome’s 2007/08 production of Aladdin is British pantomime at it’s best.

The big star of the show is Glasgow born American actor John Barrowman playing the happy-go-lucky but besotted lad with his magic lamp.

An established West End performer, Barrowman has achieved huge popularity through his recent television role of Captain Jack Harkness, firstly in Doctor Who and then in his own spin off series Torchwood.

Barrowman’s Aladdin is handsome and confident but importantly maintains the cheekiness and simplicity that characterises the poor young son of a Pekin washer woman with aspirations far above his humble station.

Princess Yasmin is played by the beautiful Lila McConigley whose pure, sweet voice captures the eastern mood of the show -no surprise given her impressive operatic, jazz and pop credentials.

Yasmin’s father the Emperor, is Hiroshima born Masashi Fujimoto, also an opera singer of impressive ability though popularly known for his television career in Channel Four’s Banzai. Fujimoto is scary but very funny.

The poor old baddie in Aladdin has Pete Gallagher playing an awesome Uncle Abanazar.

The production’s hilarity is stirred up throughout between the legendary Grumbleweeds, Robin Colvill and Graham Walker, playing Chinese policemen and Sparkbrook’s favourite son, master of comic entertainment, the accomplished Don Maclean playing Widow Twankey.

As the children in the audience screamed at the customary slap-stick antics of these three physically funny clowns, grown adults howled alongside at the abundance of both traditional and contemporary gags stuffed with references to both local and national media stories.

There are lashings of humour a-plenty in Aladdin. From Widow Twankey’s backhand remark about her cart not being safe to leave in Sutton Coldfield to some fabulous impressions from The Grumbleweeds including Ozzy, Ali G and Andy and Lou from Little Britain – the jokes and routines just keep on coming.

The sets in Aladdin are visually stunning and the magic of the show is dramatically enhanced by extraordinary special effects - astonishing sound, vision, dry ice and the customary clever bit of illusion and folk having a fly. But central to all of this are the truly impressive 3D special effects provided by Amazing Interactives Ltd.

At various points the audience are instructed to pull on our special 3D glasses, as the Genie seemingly fires magic objects into the auditorium.

Even as an adult reminding myself constantly of the logical processes at work, i.e. the effects are all on the screen, the effects are impressive, but to my five year old daughter Alice they were truly wondrous.

After one particularly intense period of amazing 3D effects she whispered “the snake came out and looked at me right in the eyes”. I didn’t let on that the whoops and squeals from the audience indicated that it might not have been a singular experience.

Colourful, vivid, bright, extravagant, very, very funny… Birmingham Hippodrome are celebrating 50 years of panto in fitting style.

Oh…and by the way…as if all this isn’t enough the show also features the real Daleks from outer space, though not in the big underpants! As Frank Skinner said about religion and wrestling in his autobiography- “believe or leave!”

You just have to go and see it!

Pete Millington writes Spaghetti Gazetti, the blog of West Midlands heritage, history and culture.  Just click here to see it.