ALADDIN

One From The Heart at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford

19.12.10

A traditional family pantomime – whatever that means. No smut, no soap-stars. Custard pies and chorus boys – a dying breed these days. A mangle, good and evil right and sinister, a dame, but no principal boy – another dying breed. And plenty of well-worn wit: 1954 was quoted on stage – that was I think the year of my first trip to professional panto, and I'm not arguing.

I'd heard great things about their magic carpet, and it lived up to the hype, with Chris Carswell’s East End Aladdin, lit by the on-board light source, balancing and singing One Moment in Time as the rug pitched and swayed through the darkness.

Simon Aylin's script also deserves a gong for the most tortuous topical/local gag – rhyming Nick Clegg with Ivory Peg.

Star of the show for us was Harry Morrison's chunky Genie, giving his all in Rhythm of Life. Good work too from Nathan Guy's little boy Wishee, Natasha Jayetileke's sultry Jasmine and Michael Cantwell's Abanazer, with his “bad guy facial hair”. A gruff, gritty Dame from Richard Earl - “You can talk to me, you know, I'm not a DVD ...” - who lit up the stage as soon as he strutted on.

Lots of good music – standards, show tunes, including Good Morning Zanzibar and Mummy Mia – the orient, in this new script, stretching from “Ancient Arabia” to Egypt for an enhanced interactive ghost routine. The MD in the pit was Ben Kennedy; I enjoyed his megamix finale, encouraging the youngsters to get on down [St Anne's, Trinity Road, Scallywags and Kiddicaru were in the stalls with us], and the lifetime's worth of singalongs - from Bob the Builder to Go Compare – in one glorious medley. Not to mention a seriously silly Twelve Days of Christmas, with custard pies and rubber chickens.

Best Civic panto for a while, I'm told, and it was certainly a hit with the youngsters, who scrambled for sweets and squealed as they were squirted in the water battle. But it did lack the angle, the edge, which would have made it memorable for me ...