The Liverpool Empire Christmas pantomime has become a staple of the festive season in the city. Alongside the Ice Festival and Santa’s various grottos, it has become a family favourite that usually results in a packed out auditorium and rave reviews.
So it’s probably good for me to get this off my chest early; I’m not a big fan of Christmas pantomimes in any form. This means I approached the Empire’s production of Aladdin with some trepidation.
Sometimes it’s nice to be wrong.
Aladdin follows the Empire’s successful run last year and many of the performers appear again including former X Factor favourite Ray Quinn as Aladdin, Radio City’s Leanne Campbell and Pete Price as Princess Jasmine and the Emperor respectively and Claire Sweeney as the Genie of the Ring.
Aladdin is a fast-paced, often frantic take on the classic tale with modern and classic musical numbers, plenty of audience intervention and the traditional pantomime mix of toilet humour for the youngsters and knowing nods to the adults in the audience. The plot centres around an evil sorcerer’s plans to take control of a magic lamp and the power of the genie that resides inside. To do this he must trick Aladdin into retrieving it for him – but is soon foiled by the hero and his entrouge of bumbling, madcap sidekicks.
First of all, the bits that didn’t work. Some of the scene-shifting in the first half jars a little and there are some lengthy dialogues that fail to hit the mark and the (mostly young) audience did occasionally become restless as points were laboured. Luckily, this is a minor gripe and does not diminish the overall enjoyment of the show.
Now for the good point, and there are plenty. The beautiful surroundings of the Liverpool Empire demands something special and the glitzy scenery, stunning costumes and brilliant dance choreography make for a spectacular visual show. Ray Quinn, whose cheeky Aladdin was instantly likeable, got a chance to demonstrate his platinum-selling vocals with an uplifting version of Pharrell’s ‘Happy’, while lively performances of One Direction, the Rocky Horror Show and Daft Punk hits all had the audience on their feet and singing along.
The jokes came thick and fast, with puns, slapstick and hilarious misunderstandings providing laughs throughout. Liverpool took centre stage with much of the comedy on the night, with Scousers’ penchant for Ugg Boots, Merseyrail and various areas of Merseyside all receiving gentle mocking. There are also nods to the actors’ work outside Aladdin and it wouldn’t be a Christmas panto without at least one mention of Tinhead from Brookside.
However, the real reason to book tickets for Aladdin is to see the cast, whose chemistry and love of performing is evident.
The simply superb Wayne Donnelly of Shameless fame opens the show and his scheming, power-hungry Abanazer is every bit the Disney villain, causing the audience to boo in all the right places and delivering plenty of menace to proceedings. He is backed up by Claire Sweeney, who garnered the biggest cheer of the night for her performance as the cynical, wise-cracking Genie of the Ring.
Prolific panto dame Ray Brandon shines as the rude, crude Widow Twankey, with a range of elaborate costumes and plenty of slapstick to get his teeth into. He’s backed up by excellent Adam Curtis as PC Pong, whose bumbling police officer character provided plenty of laughs, not least with a particularly well-worked scene with a mangler and some washing machines.
However, the star of the show was recent John Moores University graduate Benjamin Engelen. His performance as Wishee Washee, Aladdin’s brother, knitted much of the show together and his interactions with the audience were sharp, perfectly delivered and genuinely funny. From dramatically throwing himself about on stage to making distracting phone calls during a love scene, he stole much of the attention from the more established actors and was easily the most popular with the younger members of the audience. The frantic and fantastic take on the 12 Days of Christmas by Wishee Washee, Widow Twankey and PC Pong encapsulates the madcap performance of the three.
It’s no longer a surprise that the supremely talented Leanne Campbell shone as the glitzy Princess Jasmine after starring in Peter Pan last year at the same venue, but it would have been nice to have seen her more central to the performance. She would have been perfect for a feistier version of the traditional Princess as opposed to the damsel in distress and, an entertaining duet with Aladdin aside, I felt her excellent singing voice was underused.
Joe Speare as the rhyming Genie of the Lamp was similarly impressive but underused, but there were so many very good performances it would have been difficult to give everybody the stage time they deserved.
At just two hours long, Aladdin packs plenty in and is a must for the family this Christmas. Children and adults alike will be entertained and as somebody who is not the biggest fan of pantomimes, if I can leave with a big smile on my face there’s nothing stopping those who love all-singing, all-dancing spectaculars to go along and lose themselves for a few hours – no matter how old you are.
Pic: Mark McNulty
