There’s nothing quite like taking in a panto in the run-up to Christmas to get festive feelings in full swing.
This was a particularly chilly Sunday afternoon on which to venture out, with the streets around the Whitley Bay Playhouse still thick with frost and ice at 2 in the afternoon.
But inside the venue it was a summer’s day in Peking, Aladdin’s usual Arabian backdrop having adopted an oriental theme for this version of the classic adventure story, with a lavish set and plenty of colourful costume changes to feast our eyes on. The sparkly red ensemble outfits for the finale were particularly dazzling.
Read more: Must-see Christmas panto and show reviews in the North East - don't miss out!
We’ve not had the pleasure of watching the Whitley Bay Playhouse pantomime since 2019, and it was a joy to see that the well-known routines that audiences lap up from Steve Walls and the talented cast were all present and correct. My son chanted “we’ll have to sing it again, then, won’t we?” on the way to the theatre and was delighted when this regular made an appearance.
This year’s cast sees much-loved Steve Walls take on the role of Wishy Washy, playing the son to Daniel Mawston’s pantomime dame in his starring role as Widow Twankey. Both are, as always, excellent.
Aladdin is played by Chico Slimani, who audiences will remember for winning (most) of the nation’s hearts during his X Factor journey in 2005. It seems incredible that this was nearly 20 years ago, as Chico doesn’t seem to have aged a day and after a few deliberate false starts treated us to a rousing rendition of his hit Chico Time. I’ll be honest, it wouldn’t be one of my desert island discs, but the audience lapped it up and Chico clearly loves performing and throws everything into it.
There’s always a lot of humour in this show, much of it for the adults while being carefully enough judged to go over very young children’s heads (not so much my 12-year-old!). There were a couple of good-natured jibes at the panto’s main ‘rival’ over at the Newcastle Theatre Royal - including a great moment where Steve Walls asks Alexa a question. I won’t spoil the punchline but it got a big laugh.
There were lots of those, coming of course from the banter between Wishy-Washy and Widow Twanky, but also from a brilliant turn by two policeman characters played by father-and-son comedy double act Simmons and Simmons - that’s Keith and Ben to their friends. These two were superb and got arguably the biggest cheer of the night at the finale, deservedly so. Their comic timing was impeccable.
The Whitley Bay panto has traditionally been seen as a bit less high-end-production than its city centre counterpart, but I thought the set changes and special effects this year were impressive. The magic carpet ride which sees Chico’s Aladdin elevated above the audience even met with the thumbs-up from a difficult-to-wow 12-year-old.
The show is an hour each half plus a 20-minute interval, which is quite a long time for very little kids but there is enough to keep them entertained with the combination of set piece songs and dance routines plus the enjoyably daft regulars from Steve and the gang. The Ghostbusters ghost hunt and a riotous rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas with Wishy-Washy, Widow Twankey and the two policemen were our best bits.
Massive credit to the ensemble cast and production crew, who were on their second of three performances yesterday when we saw them - the energy and commitment these actors give to entertaining us over Christmas is phenomenal.
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