Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Norbury Players)

Suspect this will be one of the very few pantomimes I write about this far into the early months of a calendar year and with all the delays forced on them by Covid-19 it's really amazing to see Norbury Players still packing them in at their home theatre in Droitwich.

If you've ever seen the 1937 Disney animated version of this classic tale (it is that long ago!) you might have an image of Snow White in your head and you'll be surprised to see exactly that image on stage, Molly Hill is Snow White in every feasible way, not least of all a crystal clear vocal both spoken and singing in the vein of Adriana Caselotti who took on that challenge in 1937.

If you have beauty on one side, you need something distinctly wicked on the other and anybody who wants to have our heroine killed and her heart cut out is iniquitous in the extreme, that being of course Queen Avarice and Melanie Brown greedily laps up all the 'boo's and hisses' that the audience can summon up (I am reliably informed after an interval chat with Andy Brown the director behind this production that she really isn't that bad, I guess being married to her gives him particular insight).

This wicked queen has her evil eyes on Prince Ferdinand but, if he falls for her rather than Snow White he really 'should have gone to Specsavers', fortunately Nathan Wilde knows his evil baddies from his beautiful 'good eggs' and isn't taken in at all while delivering a lightly comic and vocally outstanding performance.

Of course the real comedy comes from Paul Steele as archetypal dame with a gaelic twang, Edna Bucket, Jimmy Hill as Chuckles the Jester with his cringing array of jokes and the performance of the night from Emma Waters as Scribbles an energetic and supremely entertaining scribe and foil to Tony Boardman's straight man portrayal of Justice Quill.

Vicky Moloney provides a few home truths as a very technical Merlina the Voice of the Mirror, Merie Eglesfield is enthusiastically magical as Fairy Fortune and Nigel Payne has everybody on his side as Slurp, palace servant and fall-guy for the queen's plans to do away with Snow White.

We aren't 'short' on youth talent in this panto either, seven particular examples of course, delightful leadership from Darcie-Ella Eglesfield as Brainy, eternal joy from Elizabeth Radford as Smiley, endearing quality from Lexy Steele as Dozy, essentially outspoken from Evie Makepeace as Grumbly, Tim Radford's never far from sleep Snoozy, Holly Dufty as an easily irritated (nasally anyway) Sniffle and a charmingly understated performance from Tallula Eglesfield as Blushful.

Add an extensive ensemble cast of all ages, some inventive choreography from Lois Press and a glittering array of show tunes from Laurence Nicholas and his Band (you can't go wrong with tunes like Magic To Do from Pippin, The Song that Goes Like This from Spamalot and You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen, to name only a few) and you have a show with something for everybody with performances through to 5th March 2022.

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