It’s December and that time of year finally comes back around…it’s Panto time! The family event that has become a staple in Scottish theatre and never fails to put a smile on everyone’s face. The King’s Theatre’s illustrious panto returns once again – with Crossroads Pantomimes, this year we are treated to the beloved tale of ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
Elaine C. Smith is Scottish royalty for a reason. Smith is an absolute joy to watch! No matter what she is doing on stage, she just has impeccable timing and delivery. Her energy was at a great level from start to finish and had fantastic chemistry with everyone on stage which added such ease to the performance. Her voice was beautiful as always and her rendition of the Adele/Bonnie Banks medley during the Beast and Belle’s first dance was wonderful and really lended to the atmosphere of the scene.
Johnny Mac as Jack Potty (or Jack Pot Ka-ching) was incredible all through the show. From the get go, Mac had the audience in the grasp of his hands, ready to make them laugh, embarrass them and utilise them whenever needed. Mac had a great understanding of what his role was in the panto (even exceeding expectation), not his character but his role as the jokes man and the one to drive the audience with interaction. He nailed this to an absolute perfection and gave a masterclass performance that the audience and the kids will remember for the festive season. Hi improvisation was spectacular and his cloot skit with the kids was amazing and nice wee memory for the kids on stage. Again, chemistry is a key part to a successful pantomime as you have to trust your co stars if anything goes wrong – which to be fair, with these types of show, if something goes wrong then it goes right and just adds more to the show! – and Macs chemistry with everyone was unprecedented, especially Darren Brownlie. Their relationship was very funny and wholesome and their banter during the 12 days of Christmas skit was unmatched. Having the audience in stitches with their childish antics.
Brownlie started the show as Shuggy and kicked it off as it meant to go on, with a bang! Brownlie’s comedy was on point and every joke landed, especially the ones for the adults. He was such a great energy on stage and any time he entered he somehow managed to lift everything and everyone even with the cast already performing at a great energy level. Brownlie had the audience creased over with laughter from the simplest of lines and was a clear natural on stage.
Blythe Jandoo was amazing as Belle. She had a great character understanding and was a perfect balance of wholesome and strong and powerful. Jandoo’s voice was fantastic and she had such a clear sound and beautiful tone to her singing. She had a lovely energy and presence to her character. As well as being a beautiful singer, she came out and showed how multi talented she really is with amazing execution of some fantastic choreography.
Calum McElroy was great as Prince Sebastian. He had a good balance of vulnerability and anger and never seemed to over power the other emotion which can be common as the Beast. As Prince Sebastian, McElroy had a great energy and had a very good characteristic as a royalty in love. As the Beast, McElroy still had great characteristics but his energy and volume of his dialogue dropped at times, this could be due to the massive headpiece he had on but
regardless his volume dropping did become noticeable. However, this didn’t take away from the performance.
Rachel Flynn was great as the enchantress. She had a fantastic costume which really embodied the character and her powerhouse vocals was exceptional throughout the whole show. During the flying motorbike scene, the orchestra seemed to be a little loud and Flynn done a great job to overcome that obstacle and still be able to power her vocals above the music, however, towards the end of the act 1 finale, everything as a whole did become a little overwhelming. Again though, this didn’t take away from a fantastic all round performance from Flynn.
Matthew McKenna was hilariously annoying as Malky McSneer. His approach to the villain was a great twist on the traditional, consistently angry bad guy. McKenna was hilarious with his physical comedy and his personal touches on the character and subtle twist on the delivery of lines created a great story and characteristics for McSneer. It took the audience a few scenes to get behind booing McKenna but that is honestly due to him just being funny and so good to watch! But, after a few scenes, McKenna really got into his own and started playing with the audience a bit more and making them hate him even more.
The ensemble consisting of: Mark D’Arcy, Ciara Ford, Ross Logan, Barrie McElwaine, Laurie McIntyre, Madeleine Nicholls, Jefferson Santos and Nicola Thomson, were unstoppable for the entirety of the show. Whether it be vocals, harmonising or choreography, they were on point and never missed a beat, showcasing great professionalism and talent.
The writing by Alan McHugh was perfect. Something that was really nice about the story was the fact that it was Beauty and the Beast but just the plot. McHugh really leaned towards the skits more and this made the flow of the piece excellent and it was just funny moment after funny moment which made every scene memorable.
Kathryn Rooney’s directing was perfect also. The direction of the story just allowed everything to flow perfectly and gave the actors enough room to do their own thing whilst sticking to Rooney’s vision which is a great balance for pantomime.
Karen Martin had excellent choreography from start to finish. Whether it was the slow dance between Belle and the Beast or the ensemble group numbers, each and every move was very well thought out and eye-catching.
In conclusion, the Crossroads Pantomime production of Beauty and the Beast was a fantastic representation of Scottish theatre and gave the audience a wonderful night of Christmas joy and laughs to remember! Until next year…
Images – Richard Campbell
Get tickets for ‘Beauty and the Beast’ here –
https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/beauty-and-the-beast/kings-theatre-glasgow/
Theatre Scotland 
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