“Cinderella – The Panto” by Bingham Musical Theatre Company
Bingham Methodist Church.

A dashing prince is hosting a ball and Cinderella would give anything to go, but her wicked stepmother and ugly sisters have other plans. Can Cinderella escape their clutches and, with the help of her Fairy Godmother and best friend Buttons, find true love?

Will the sisters’ father, the Baron ever invent something useful or will the debt collectors Borne & Bread catch up with him?

A slight twist on the traditional panto, but at its' heart, this is one of those traditional pantos that everyone loves and can join in with the shouting. And I noticed that it was the adults who were leading the kids with the traditional panto shouting.

I've said this before about Bingham Musical theatre Company, that with the funds that they raise, the quality of their shows belies the funds that they have to work with.

The scenery for this show I really liked. It was like a large fairy tale book where the cast turned the pages to show the different scenes. At the end of the panto some of the cast came through the doors in the back page of the book. If you'll pardon the pun, this was a novel idea and really worked for me.

Emma Townsend (Cinderella) wasn't the usual blonde Cinderella, keeping her brunette locks, which was refreshing.

Zoe Stebbings (Prince Charming) kept with tradition with plenty of thigh slapping. Zoe also had a lovely voice which was well used on her rendition of "Against All Odds". This song, I'm surprised hasn't been used for this panto before, especially as the first few lines are "How can I just let you walk away, just let you leave without a trace", just after Cinders has fled the ball room at midnight.

John Stebbings (Buttons) won the audience over with his lovelorn adoration of Cinders, and set the tone for the audience participation bits.

Emily Hudson (Dandini) was great as the Prince's faithful man servant, and her wannabe "lad" behaviour.

Philippa Buchanan (Baroness/Wicked Stepmother) was brilliant as the nasty stepmother, loud and brash who also managed to get the kids "booing" her. Loved her rendition of "Single Ladies" to the beat of "We Will Rock You", another nice musical addition to the panto soundtrack.

Arun Hayes (Baron) was wonderfully over the top, almost mad hatterish.

Paul Green and Anthony Alldread (The Ugly Sisters, Tixylix and Bonjela), as expected got all the best costumes , apart from Phillipa, and the majority of the best gags as well, although there were some crackers spread throughout this panto. My favourite of this corn fest was centred around the sign for the "Haunted Forest", mis-spelt resulting in the pun line of it being a "bad sign". Loved it!

Charlotte Heafford (Fairy Godmother) was impressive in her lyrical and rhyming delivery.

Danica Halsey and Nik Hudson (Bourne & Bread, the debt collectors). A novel section with these two surrounding counting the money out. Clever and funny.

Jenny Pike, Ashton Coxon, Elizabeth Beech, Emma Swatton, Tabitha Hamilton, Charlie Buchanan and Eloise Warriner made up the ensemble.

Directed by Graham Buchanan, and making his first "grown up" go at directing, he kept the traditional and mixed in some fresh sections to keep this an entertaining directorial debut.

Philippa Buchanan & Nik Hudson were responsible for the Set Design & Construction which I loved so much. It really was just like one of the Disney films with the pages turning to move the story on.

Charlie Buchanan created the choreography which raised a big round of applause, especially with the ballet sequence.

Becky Morley provided the costumes which in true panto style were both over the top but also stylish panto fare.

I've mentioned the music in this panto and it was the responsibility of Musical Director Lindsay Thompson. Loved the live keyboard and guitar accompaniment as well as the mix with the recorded backing tracks, both worked really well.

May I mention again that you don't need big sets to make an entertaining show, especially when the passion and heart of this small company are all you need. I love a really good set but it;s not everything and this company prove this.

A really enjoyable show which highlights team effort from all involved. Well worthy of your support, plus you get a free programme and the refreshments in the interval are very reasonably priced, so but your raffle tickets, partake of the refreshments and have a good old chuckle.

“Cinderella” is at Bingham Methodist Church until Saturday 24 February 2018.

Picture courtesy of Mitch Gamble