was one of the standout numbers of the evening. It’s hard to imagine that this pantomime had had to be re cast only a matter of months ago, and you could not tell which members were original cast, and who were the new additions to the company. It’s difficult when the director steps in to fill an empty space within the cast, but this director, and assistant director duo, Michael Lawlor and Gavin Chadwick, really worked well together. These two gentlemen have experience on and off the stage and used their wealth of knowledge to their advantage. Setting the scene, the stunningly beautiful narrator (Chloe Goddard) took the audience on a journey to the far away land of “Corona”, soon to be renamed “Ashton”. Although sometimes the dialogue was lost due to the lack of microphones, Chloe’s diction was on point, and in turn was able to be heard above the entire audience. Rapunzel (Charlotte Royal), our lost princess, instantly made the audience love her with a lovely version of “Morning Person” from the musical “Shrek”. Throughout Charlotte managed to show the helpless side of her character, whilst revealing her feisty side when Finn came to “kidnap her”. The Will to Charlotte’s Kate was the ruffian, Finn Ryder (Shelley Ridler). Shelley burst onto the stage with an air of confidence only a truly seasoned performer could. She worked the audience and really got them on her side. Charlotte and Shelly’s relationship worked well, and they complemented each other vocally during “Firework”. Silly Billy (Thomas Chatterton) had an instant rapport with the audience members and knew how to play on it, although I would love to have known why we had to remind him to “water the woses [sic]”: we would have done anything he asked of us
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