| Aladdin in St Albans | Alban Arena Thursday 9 December 2004 - Sunday 2 January 2005 Box Office: 01727 844488 This year's festive treat at the Alban Arena is the traditional story of Aladdin with an added modern twist! Spider-Man makes a special guest appearance as the Genie of the Lamp, alongside Michelle from TV's Big Brother (The Princess) and GMTV's Jamie Rickers (Wishee Washee). |
Big Brother's Michelle makes her stage debut in Aladdin - and comes in for a lot of scrutiny, probably more than the average Princess does so. For her first panto, she has a large role - and despite wanting to damn her as another reality TV star who thinks they can make it on the stage - I think she did quite well. There were some good Big Brother gigs and compulsory "chicks" from the 23-year-old.
 | | A whole new world for BB's Michelle |
Her voice wavered a bit during her first song - probably due to nerves - but spectacular magic from Emperor Wizard Philip Hitchcock involving some doves brought the action back up to speed. Certainly my children could not tell that she was a newcomer - and panto is primarily for the kids, isn't it? And at last Michelle managed to be the bride that she so desperately wanted to be during Big Brother - even if she was marrying another woman (Aladdin) and they were being married by a Superhero.... The highlight of the show for me had to be the magic tricks. Doves disappeared, people reappeared and the audience were amazed time after time. For my children, the best bit of the show was Jamie Rickers as Wishee Washee - and his bottom jokes, which have been repeated time and time again. Jamie managed to engage the audience, getting them up on their feet, clapping and singing in true traditional style.
 | | My name's not Alf a banana! |
The other actor with great repartee with the audience was Chris Hackett who played the evil Abanazar. He was given loads of heckling, plenty of hissing and the necessary 'Oh no I'm nots'. He really was on the ball. Musical mood The show has a real musical feeling to it - unusual for a panto - with songs adapted from Joseph, Annie and Oliver! The accompanying dancing also had that slick musical feeling, with great choreography and outstanding performances from the young team from the Marguerita Hoare School of Dancing. Spiderman "with great power comes great responsibility" flew in and out of the stage, whacked evil monsters and jumped around like he had springs in his legs. He was a firm favourite with the young audience.
 | | Magic carpet ride for Aladdin |
Principal girl Aladdin (Jayne Curry) was another favourite - and had a good singing voice. The scenes with Aladdin, Wishee Washee and their mum Widow Twankey (Barry Hester) really came alive. Aladdin has some extra features than the average panto - and scored highly among my young family, who were so impressed they took the programme into school the next day - a true compliment! | 
