A pantomime at Christmas time tends to be one of the most reliable ways to have a fun family evening out. And what better setting for it than Sheffield’s Lyceum Theatre – home for decades to annual Christmas pantomimes. The offering this year was Aladdin, combining all the hallmarks of a traditional pantomime – extravagant costumes, rousing musical numbers and constant crowd interaction – with a few famous faces to add to the various other attention-grabbing performances.
One of the reasons, in my opinion, that the panto is – and continues to be – so popular is that it doesn’t take much for it to be great. The individual ingredients that make a pantomime the spectacle that it is are relatively simple; the trick is piecing them together and striking the right balance. On that front, this production hit the nail on the head. Of course, a large proportion of the show was targeted at the many young children in the audience (having a CBeebies presenter in the cast was naturally a good fit for that), but the subtle jokes for the parents were timed just well enough (while still common enough that there were adults audibly crying tears of laughter behind me at times) that it still remained a kids’ show first and foremost, and the children remained engaged as they should in any good pantomime.
It struck me on the way to the theatre that I had somehow contrived to never see Aladdin before this – either on stage or screen – so combined with the fact that I hadn’t been to a pantomime since I was young enough to be one of the many excited children in the audience well over a decade ago, I was able to approach the show with an open mind. Naturally then, when the first character appeared on stage and I thought to myself, ‘isn’t that the bloke from Strictly back in the day?’, the show had grabbed my interest straight away, and presumably also that of all the parents who a) watched Strictly around 10 years ago, and b) had made the same mistake as me and forgotten to pick up a programme, on the cover of which I can only assume Kevin Clifton was front and centre.
It is worth highlighting the music in particular – in stage productions such as this: panto, musical or else, the orchestra always do a fantastic job not least because they play such an integral role in the presentation of the show. I believe it can turn good shows into great ones, or potentially average ones. This show was no different, directed by the evidently excellent James Harrison, who was doing just as good a job as a hype man for the kids in the crowd both before and during the show as he did orchestrating the music. The performances of hit songs from various generations were well-integrated and didn’t feel forced, and were of course pulled off brilliantly by the singers and dancers on stage, to the point where I was even able to put aside my personal distaste for one or two of the songs chosen. This telling of the beloved Aladdin certainly didn’t disappoint.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
