The big panto at the Royal and Derngate for Christmas ‘24 is Cinderella, one of the best loved panto stories of all time, and given all the colourful, brash treatment you would expect from Evolution Productions. All the vital elements are there – lots of singing and dancing, vivacious and eccentric costumes, putting the spotlight on one poor bloke in the audience for unwanted advances from the Ugly Sisters (well done to Jamie for taking one for the team), a ghost bench, a favourite children’s TV star, a Fairy Godmother, and of course a happy ending.

One of the joys of a well done panto is its ability to appeal to an audience of all ages. It’s most important that it captivates the children – after all, they are the theatregoers of the future – but it also needs to have plenty in it for the mums and dads. This particular production is heavily targeted at the youngsters, and it’s a pleasure to see how enraptured they are by it, with very noisy audience participation in the singalongs and pointing out the ghosties.

One of the more interesting aspects of this production is how it addresses some stereotyping that you find in every panto – with Muriel the overconfident eight year old stepping in to point out that Cinderella doesn’t need a Prince Charming to be a fully realised woman, and that if she’s cooking and cleaning for her sisters then she’s doing it on her own terms. Cue at least 50% of the audience quietly muttering You Go Gurl under their breath. This Cinderella is not the usual browbeaten drudge who caves in at bullying; rather, she calls it out and challenges the sisters for their outrageous treatment of her. When she tells them that she refuses to cry no matter what they do to her, you realise this is an excellent life lesson for the children to learn and may give confidence to any kids present who are being bullied at school. It’s a shame then, that this message does not follow through; when they later insist that she tears up her invitation to the Royal Ball she rather pathetically complies, instead of telling them to stick their vindictiveness where the sun doesn’t shine. It’s an unfortunate inconsistency in the characterisation.

Our Fairy Godmother, played by Joanne Clifton, is still earning her stripes and she won’t get a magic wand unless she manages to make two people fall in love for who they are rather than for their titles; it’s another interesting modern message, this fairy isn’t merely matchmaking a Prince and Princess. Naturally Ms Clifton brings all her dancing skills to the role, and there are lots of Strictly Come Dancing elements to the show. However, she hasn’t been part of Strictly for eight years now, and with her other stage credits in between, I do wonder how much longer this association remains credible; and despite her enthusiasm, I did feel she struggled to come across to the audience.

Andy Day’s Andini (not Dandini – you can see what they did there) fared better with the hordes of kids who just adore him; he has an excellent role-swapping relationship with his Prince Charming and works through the Barrowful of Puns with Dave Bibby’s Buttons with entertaining aplomb. Mr Bibby is at his best when expressing his unrequited love for Cinderella and how upset he is at the fact that she loves him only as a brother. Gordon Cooper and Matt Daines’ wicked stepsisters are a gruesome twosome who unite vanity and cruelty in equal measure, and their prime victim, Marcavia McCarthy’s Cinderella, has a superb voice and is an excellent match for Marcellus Whyte’s Prince Charming.

But here’s the thing: something about this panto just doesn’t gel properly. Despite all its first-rate elements, it’s one of those occasions when its sum is less than its parts. I don’t think it was the funniest of scripts, at times it seems to move along rather slowly and lacks energy, and I fear some of the characterisations are rather bland. I don’t think I am alone; at the end of the show, when the cast galvanise everyone to get up on their feet and clap along with the final number, hardly anyone did. Nevertheless, there was plenty of enthusiasm from the kids in the audience throughout the show and I’m sure many families went home beaming from ear to ear. It just slightly missed the mark for me.

Three-sy Does It!