It is always exciting and interesting to see a well-known celebrity make their Pantomime debut and each season new familiar faces are attracted to the stage. I doubt if there has ever been a better celebrity debut than Vernon Kay at the Wycombe Swan as Dandini in Cinderella. Despite the fact that this is sometimes a supporting role he dominates the stage with a bubbly and happy personality and natural charm, he has the audience eating out of his hand from his first appearance. He shows an understanding of the pantomime genre and the nature of live theatre and engages the audience with his asides, looks and smiles. When it comes to introducing the Principal Boy, Prince Charming, he asks a young boy from the audience to come on the stage and do it for him and handles the moment delightfully. Why Cinderella does not fall for him instead of the Prince is a mystery until you remember that they are most of the time following Will Brenton’s excellent script.
Of course, it takes a lot more than a star name to make a good show and this production has it all from the moment you enter the auditorium, you are transported to a magical world by the amazing digital set with banks of video screens framed by twisted tower portals. The digital scenery, which I had seen before at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, looked even better in the more intimate traditional theatre of the Swan. The technology meant we could see moving rivers, turning windmills, and burning fires with heart and butterfly motifs to add to the script. The transformation scene takes on a new dimension when the on-stage carriage takes off and flies into the distance and then returns and converts back into an onstage pumpkin. It's pure Pantomime magic. Of course, there is a risk in the technology and the frequent black screen was a distraction although Kay brilliantly ad-libbed about it, so it became part of the show. The inclusion of the Gino de Campo and Keith Lemon video projections seemed an unnecessary indulgence adding little especially when we have Jon Clegg on stage as Buttons doing his wonderful impressions of which we could have seen more. His opening routine included Kermit, Alan Carr, The Simpsons, Michael McIntyre, Paddy McGuiness and Sarah Millican while the projected images assisted recognition, the impressions and selected voices were so familiar that the material worked very well. He topically added in a reference to the postal strike when a knock at the door went down well and played the “she behind me” gag wonderfully, twice to a great audience reaction.
