“It’s Behind You!” cried all my friends, as the curtain came
down on my final Panto of Christmas in January. Oh no it’s not, because the
ever growing phenomenon that is the Easter Panto sprang into life last night
with The Wizard of Oz at St Helens Theatre Royal.
And all in all it sets a pretty high benchmark for the
season, with bags of colour, plenty of music, great audience engagement and a
whole lot of laughter.
Regular scriptwriter Si Foster (best known as St Helens’
resident Dame) steers a steady course between the Yellow Brick Road and the set
pieces of Pantoland. The story is all there, punctuated by some of the
traditional games, from the gradual picking off of a line of cast members by an
evil creature to the ritual of a group of small children volunteered to go
onstage and sing for chocolate.
This show might not have a Dame, but it certainly has a
Wicked Witch, and Linda Lusardi hurls herself into the part with delicious
relish. Mia Molloy is a sprightly Dorothy who skips though the piece with some
fancy footwork to go with the fairytale charm.
There is a great trio of companions for Dorothy’s Emerald
City adventure. Steve Arnott and Harry Moore are wonderfully cast as the
Cowardly Lion and the Tin Woodman, but nobody could disagree that the
show-stealer is Reece Sibbald, whose Scarecrow is a comedy force to be reckoned
with. He’s a specialist in the genre and knows exactly what he’s doing at every
moment, milking the script for every drop of humour.
To be fair, in the scene-stealing stakes, 5 year old Buddy
(a Jack Russell, Chihuahua, and Yorkshire Terrier cross) has everyone’s
affection whenever he’s onstage as Dorothy’s faithful dog Toto. No stranger to
the role, he seemed to know his cues better than some of the human cast and is
clearly a consummate professional.
The inclusion of those extra-textual panto scenes makes this
a fairly long show, and it might pack more of a punch with a spot of trimming,
but the energy level never sags and the children in the house were totally on
board throughout. There is some first rate singing, with many of the familiar
songs from the film version included along with the modern hits, and the
choreography is well executed too.
Director Chantelle Nolan must have had her hands full in the
rehearsal room with this lively cast. Even on opening night there is already a
sense of a bunch of friends having an absolute ball, and they have the comic
timing down to a fine art. That said, some of the funniest moments came when
one or more of them totally lost the plot or descended into uncontrollable
giggles. It’s a show filled with fun, and there are some real high points,
including an absolutely priceless scene where the Witch shrinks the Scarecrow
to half his size.
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| Reece Sibbald, Mia Molloy, Steve Arnott, Harry Moore and Buddy - Photo (c) David Munn |
This review was originally written for publication by Good News Liverpool
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