REVIEW: Aladdin at the New Wimbledon Theatre

As the main pantomime season draws to a close for 2018/19 season, two shows hit the news headlines with leading artistes illnesses causing them to drop out mid run. The wonderful Jimmy Osmond was unable to continue and has been replaced for the rest of the run as Hook by Darren Day in Birmingham in a wave of sympathy and concern. Down in the New Theatre Wimbledon, Lee Ryan reportedly left the show at the interval during one performance and has been replaced by  Chris Durtnal with a programme insert being given out to the subsequent audiences. These changes must be very disruptive to cast and crew requiring additional rehearsals to be fitted in to the already hectic two shows a day, six days a week schedule. 

Durtnal makes a solid substitute in his leading role debut as Aladdin opposite Lauren Chia as Princess Jasmine. They combine well in a comedy song routine sat on a wall with Wishy Washy which is featured in many of the Qdos shows this year but when it comes to the big final fight with Abanazar (Adam Pearce) it is Jasmine who takes centre stage to defeat him in the sword fight while Aladdin lies unconscious. 

Momentous Musicals: Theatre Review

Having perviously played a One off night in Wimbledon last year, Momentous Musicals is back. Keeping some of the songs from last years show with lots of new additions. From classics like Andrew Lloyd Webber to new Broadway hits like Newsies, this show celebrates generations of shows that have audiences coming back. The production also showcases what British musical talent has to offer, from the extremely experienced and well respected John Owen-Jones to new graduates from Drama Schools such as Mountview and GSA. The set list for the show has been chosen very well, I loved the selections of songs because even though there was the expected like Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked and West Side Story there was also some surprises like a Disney Melody, SMASH, Ghost and The Wiz. 

For what the show was it was very good, when you see something like this you could expect a bit of a budget performance with poor quality orchestrations and average performers, this was the total opposite. First of all the stage looked very classic, a simple black background with a starry effect was elegant and made room for Tom Boucher (lighting designer) to really fill the stage with some fantastic colours. The lighting had a lot of great moments, it was a delightful design and he adjusted the lighting to every song which really added to the over quality of the performance.