Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre may be closed for renovation but the annual Panto festive fun has relocated to Capital Theatres’ Festival Theatre for Crossroads Production’s take on ‘Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs’. The classic fairytale has been revamped into a visually stunning and hilarious big budget extravaganza running until 22nd January 2023.
Allan Stewart returns as Scotland’s favourite dame, in the form of Nurse May. This year’s panto is almost like a greatest hits album where Allan’s funniest routines and jokes are remastered to pull out all the stops and bring a special treat to audiences on the debut of the Festival Theatre’s pantomime. With this there is some brilliant new material thrown in, which does make Nurse May cheekier, much to the audience’s approval. Allan is clearly lapping up the bigger audiences, ensuring everyone is having a good time and also ensuring the heart of the Panto he has lead with Stott and the late Andy Gray for over twenty years is still very much present.
Grant Stott returns in what could be considered his best Panto performance as “The Man in the Mirror”, Lord Lucifer. Grant is given comedy gold which he delivers with such showmanship and villainy. One of the best musical numbers in this year’s panto is ‘The Trams’ set to the music of ‘Bad’, this number could rival “That’s Fife” for it’s satirical genius. Grant may be a DJ but he’s one of the best pantomime performers in the UK and the Edinburgh audiences booed him and laughed at his jokes like never before in this year’s Panto. “Shhhh listen” has never been said so many times by Grant in the seventeen years I’ve watched him in Panto, he’s clearly doing a great job at evil trickery. Mon the Hibs.
Jordan Young returns for his third year in Edinburgh as Muddles. Jordan has truly embedded himself in this Panto family, delivering such energy and comedic nonsense. Jordan embraces the comic routines with Allan and Grant, wringing every cue for hilarity and ensuring the audience are right there with him. His performance in the “12 Days of Christmas” was outstanding, while Grant and Allan were close to cardiac arrest, Jordan was still blasting through the routine, giving his all.
Clare Gray returns to Panto as Princess Lavinia, while she is given little stage time, the comedy she is given is delivered with the same magic that she has inherited from her father. Perhaps we could see Clare take on a more comedic role in future Pantomimes? Liz Ewing is devishly evil as Queen Dragonella, an ample villain to verse our Panto quartet.
Brian James Leys supplies stunning vocals and delightful charm as Prince Hamish. Perhaps at points his acting is a little too much, which Jordan gleefully nods to, however he still delights audiences with his charming portrayal. Francesca Ross is the perfect Snow White in terms of her vocals and kind demeanor, it is a pity that she isn’t given much stage time nor involved in the hilarious routines. This is a lovely portrayal nonetheless. A highlight in both Brian and Francesca’s performance is the visually stunning Christmas songs medley.
The Magnificent Seven are a brilliant incarnation of the seven dwarfs, played by Josh Bennett, Scott English, Andy Herd, Kyle Herd, Jamie John, Fergus Rattigan and Craig Salisbury.
The ensemble for this production take on a variety of different characters, including snowmen, village people and pink gorillas? The ensemble for this production are Erin Dodds, Katy Kedslie, Amy Kent, Josh Kiernan, Jonathan Milton, Aimee Orr, Luke Perry, Qoobi Robinson, Robert Sharpe and Ruth Warren.
Ed Curtis directs this big-budget Panto with the scope of delivering effects galore (provided by The Twins FX) and farcical hilarity. The comedy in this production is undoubtedly some of the best within King’s Panto history. However, the story of ‘Snow White’ is followed very loosely, more so than usual and at points that is nodded to, but you can’t help but feel the story is shoehorned in-between the comedic skits, with large plot holes emerging. However, with the hilarity and standard of the comedy in this year’s Panto, this can be forgiven. The only thing that was really true to the original Snow White story was four of Disney’s tracks from the original 1937 animation, while they are lovely musical numbers, more modern music and perhaps another satirical hit would have been preferred as it leaned more towards a musical than a panto with the tracks chosen. However, those numbers and the three other brilliant tracks were played brilliantly by Andy Pickering and the Festival Theatre band. They were lifted by Karen Martin’s splendid choreography. Adding to the visual splendor which was lead by Ian Westbrook’s delightful set and Howard Hudson’s dazzling lighting design.
‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’ is a hysterically funny Panto, led by some of the best Panto actors in the UK, featuring visually stunning set pieces and costumes, with truly magical effects.
Get your tickets for ‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’ here:
https://www.capitaltheatres.com/whats-on/all-shows/the-panto-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs/54
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