Aladdin (Mary Stevens Hospice)

What is now a regular fund-raising effort for the Mary Stevens Hospice in Stourbridge this is a special production in so many ways and a talented team that bring another pantomime to the stage at Stourbridge Town Hall. After Wizard of Oz and Cinderella this year audiences are treated to the classic Aladdin created and performed by an outlandishly talented team that could easily be gracing the stage at much bigger and prestigious venues.

Will Phipps as Director, James Totney as Choreographer and Rob Murray as Musical Director have conjured up a piece of entertainment that has everything and cannot fail to send an audience home feeling exhilarated and full of cheer. Will and James not happy with roles as part of the creative team have also decided to perform as Wishee Washee and Aladdin, Will is a born comedian and audience pleaser, his ability to keep a scene moving and react to any eventuality is second to none, James is more of the character player and movement coordinator, his skills in choreography are obvious, particularly in some of the bigger dance numbers.

Dom Napier is suitably evil, yet comically unstable as the wicked Abanazar and children's entertainer Wally Wombat (aka Dave Jones) is absolutely 'on the button' as Widow Twankey interacting seamlessly with the audience and delivering funny one-liners with effortless ease. Lindsey Grant as Princess Jasmine is the powerfully voiced love interest in the production, protected by Jessica Brookes as a lively and enthusiastic chief confidante So-Shy.

Proving that appearing on a television documentary (Benefits Street) and then being part of a Celebrity Big Brother series can lead to bigger and better things is 'White Dee' (Deirdre Kelly) taking the part of the Empress of Brum. Her haphazard police team of Wong (Matt Wirtz) and Pong (Harvey Dalloway) create comic mayhem both on stage and in the audience and the mystical portion of the cast are Juliet O'Brien as a vocally outstanding Spirit of the Ring and Alf Rai taking a break from the directorial chair to appear as the Genie of the Lamp and delivering an epic rendition of ‘One Night Only’ from the musical Dreamgirls.

It would be totally remiss of me not to mention the supporting cast and in particular the dancers who deliver number after number to phenomenal performance levels that are on a par if not better than many professional venues.

If you only get to see one Pantomime this year, this one would be a superb choice so book your tickets and head off to Old Peking (or Beijing for the more modern amongst us !) before the opportunity ends on Sunday 1st December 2019.

Book Here

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