Grace Annabel, Author at North West End UK

<strong>The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan – Opera House, Manchester</strong>

14Dec

By Grace AnnabelNo Comments

North West

The Pantomime Adventures of Peter Pan – Opera House, Manchester

As one would expect from such a prestigious venue, the Opera House’s annual Christmas pantomime was on a truly epic scale. As soon as the curtain lifted to a magical, fluttering Tink (Samara Casteallo), floating high above the enormous stage, the audience sensed it was in for an exceptional evening of festive entertainment with breath-taking special effects and screen graphics. A brief, child-friendly synopsis of the storyline was given by Tink to familiarise the audience with the upcoming plot before a colourful array of high-energy ensemble dancers dressed in jungle costumes stepped up the gears to mark the beginning of a vibrant, action-packed visual extravaganza. The vivid, gaudy artwork of the multi-dimensional stage set was a sight to behold and matched the ostentatiousness ...

Cinderella – Theatre Royal, St Helens

With a cast fresh from our TV screens, my expectations for Regal Entertainment's annual Christmas Panto at St. Helens Theatre Royal were high and, fortunately, I was not disappointed. One of the many charms of reviewing the marvellous institution of British Panto, is anticipating how production teams might 'freshen up' extremely overdone fairy tales to avoid audience fatigue and deliver hilarious family entertainment year after year. Cinderella at St. Helens Theatre Royal was anything but tired thanks to an eclectic mix of ventriloquism from the massively talented Jamie Leahey and Chuck (Postman and Speciality Act), stand-up comedy from Jon Courtenay (Dandini), hilarious antics from Lewis Devine (Buttons), breath-taking vocal performance from Rachel Wood (Fairy Godmother) and ah-inducin...

The Addams Family – Crewe Lyceum

Acton Operatic Society’s ‘Addams Family’, which marks the end of their two-year hiatus from performing full-scale musicals, is being staged in the grandeur of Crewe Lyceum Theatre from Wednesday 2nd to Saturday 5th November, including a Saturday matinee. This quirky, comical musical has recently done the rounds with several amateur theatre groups in the North West recently. Therefore, I was intrigued to see how this society might put their own unique stamp on this production. Despite expecting to witness some ‘first night nerves’ on opening night, this certainly was not the case, and it was obvious from the outset that this was going to be a very slick performance. Ingeniously, on entering the theatre foyer, the audience members found themselves rubbing shoulders with an...