From a showbiz style opening to a grand finale that literally sparkles in pink and silver, this year's pantomime at the Theatre Royal is out to deliver on its promise to be 'the best one yet'.
And getting Cinderella off to a cracking start on Thursday night was Joe McElderry belting out Could It Be Magic in the first scene - with lyrics tweaked, panto-style - and then it was full-on, non-stop action, fun and slapstick laughs. It's all such high energy you wonder how on earth they do it - yet they'll be doing it twice, sometimes three times, a day right up to January 15.
The annual panto's winning formula is its director and producer Michael Harrison and its stars - father and son team Clive Webb and Danny Adams, this time playing Buttons and Cinderella's dad Baron Hardup - who have taken fans along on their madcap ride at the Theatre Royal now for 17 years.
Read more: Guide to pantomimes around the North East
Having Joe McElderry join the show regulars (who also include Chris Hayward and Mick Potts) proved a masterstroke last year and the South Shields singer-songwriter now returns in a Faerie Godfather role that gives him plenty more scope to show off acting skills and that famous voice as well as build upon the sparky banter that worked so well with Danny.
This time Joe also gets the laughs, mimicking Danny's catchphrase 'accccident!', while the latter's targeted jokes and innuendos - and there are lots of them - are aimed well over the heads of the children. The kids, it has to be said, just love Danny who careers around the stage, from slapstick one moment to a moonwalk the next.
They clearly also love his brother - and CBBC co-star - Mick who got a cheer the moment he appeared as Dandidi, soon seen posing as an unlikely prince. Performances are faultless across the board, from the dance ensemble to the Geordie Ugly Sisters, with Chris Hayward on typically fine form as the wicked Baroness Volupta and both Oonagh Cox in the title role of Cinderella and cast regular Wayne Smith as Prince Charming in great voice.
This show is more than a panto, mixing in musical theatre and even magic acts (which Clive and Danny have real skills in) and, with street dance troupe Flawless - former Britain’s Got Talent finalists - joining the cast, there are some remarkable acrobatics performed on stage too.
The Theatre Royal panto is known for its production quality and at the end of the first act a stand-out moment is when the coach sets off to take Cinderella to the ball, its realistic-looking horses pulling it up into the air and out over the stalls.
Costumes are spectacular. They, like the sets, come from the London Palladium and they add that touch of West End glitter - quite literally in Cinderella's enormous ballgown which, along with the wicked stepmother's feather-topped extravaganzas, were my favourites.
The show doesn't put a foot wrong and it doesn't let up in pace. Slotted into the story are new versions of former favourite scenes, such as Danny explaining a less than successful romantic encounter by using the names of chocolate bars (a similar scene last year featured an equally funny medley of song titles). Another sees the lead cast in a hilarious rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas which has them racing around and throwing each other's props into the audience. It looks chaotic but it's cleverly timed stuff.
Above all, the show, whose flamboyant finale even includes a saxophone spouting fireworks, is such good fun. The Theatre Royal pantomime has the reputation for being the fastest-selling in the country and, as if to prove the point, Danny tells us at the end that next year's show, which will be Pinnochio, already has clocked up £1m in ticket sales.
He also reminds us that we have Wallsend-born Michael Harrison - now managing director of the world-renowned Qdos Pantomimes - to thank for this long-running tradition. From the deafening response in the packed auditorium on Thursday night, audience appreciation could not have been clearer.
For tickets to see Cinderella during the run see here.
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