Review: Cinderella at the Epstein Theatre ****

It is, according to Andy Williams, the most wonderful time of the year. And Cinderella is the most famous fairytale of them all. So put the two together and you already have a winning combination.

Inject plenty of high energy and hi-jinks into the proceedings and resistance is futile, even for the biggest Christmas curmudgeon or the grinchiest Grinch.

That’s certainly the maxim of Regal Entertainments, purveyors of festive tomfoolery for over quarter of a century and the team behind this welcome return of panto to the Epstein Theatre.

Regal staged this version of the world’s favourite fairytale at the same venue back in 2019 – albeit on that occasion mother-and-daughter producing duo Jane and Chantelle Joseph brought with them their trademark 3D interlude which sees all manner of images appearing to loom off the stage and into the auditorium.

The 3D glasses may be confined to the Theatre Royal over in St Helens this season, but most of the Cinderella set, and the show’s main set pieces, are back including an unseemly tussle on a wall between Cinders, the Prince and a jealous Buttons (I hope there are plenty of deep crash mats behind it), a ‘my little pony’ horse-drawn coach and a Paul Daniels’ style giant wardrobe trick reveal in the second half.

Walls and wardrobes may be a departure from the traditional Cinderella story, but mostly this production follows the adage of ‘it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

So we have a glamourous Fairy Godmother (Leanne Campbell back ‘IRL’ after a couple of seasons of appearing digitally), a sweet-natured, bullied heroine – Corrie’s Katie McGlynn, her best friend and confident Buttons (Kevin Duala), a dashing Prince Charming (Michael Nelson, giving it plenty of swash and buckle) and his factotum Dandini (Conor Barrie).

Above: Prince Charming (right - Michael Nelson), Dandini (Conor Barrie) and ensemble. Top: Cinderella (Katie McGlynn) with the Ugly Sisters (Shania Pain and Brenda LaBeau). Photos by David Munn.

They’re all in the ‘good’ corner. In the ‘bad’ we have the Ugly Sisters, a zeitgeisty Mounjaro and Ozempic Hardup, and if you think five against two isn’t balanced, there’s no need to fear because ‘drag sisters’ Shania Pain and Brenda LaBeau are more than capable of taking on all comers.

Whether stalking across the stage in a succession of outrageous costumes and vertiginous wigs (many of them made by LaBeau) or causing mayhem with a remote controller in the background of a scene, the statuesque duo make for a magnificent pair of baddies.

Meanwhile Campbell, back in her happy place, is given free rein to step beyond the usual Fairy Godmother role, and Conor Barrie - reprising his Dandini performance from Easter at St Helens – is a manic presence as the royal sidekick and deliberate, theatrical prima donna. So manic that sometimes you miss some of what he’s saying.

In fact, he almost behaves like a traditional Buttons. In comparison, Duala is a much more laid-back presence as Cinders’ lovelorn chum, but his almost diffident persona is actually genuinely engaging.

He doesn't get flustered and panic if his lines don't land with the audience, which sometimes, early on, they don't. He can also ad lib when required, and he has a lovely way with the youngsters persuaded up on stage by the promise of chocolate for a devilish lavatorial tongue twister towards the end.

Above: Buttons (Kevin Duala) and Cinders. Photo by David Munn.

Elsewhere, there are a good number of big musical numbers (yes, including the obligatory Golden), although the volume of both the music and sometimes the dialogue is often too much for the size of the room. It must be ear-splitting in the seats in front of the speakers.

And if some of the cast are stronger singers than others, they all deliver with real energy and lashings of conviction.

Director Kay Nicholson keeps the pace clipping along - this isn't a Hamlet-length panto, hurrah, and there's an accomplished ensemble from choreographer Nazene Langfield's Dynamix studios.

Proceedings get increasingly and very enjoyably silly; think the haplessness of a Morecambe and Wise Christmas special meets the pranksters from Mischief Theatre.

Never more so than as the festive chaos reaches a climax with a 12 Days of Christmas that descends into half-choreographed, half-freestyling anarchy at the hands of Buttons, Dandini and, shock horror, even the Fairy Godmother. Let’s just say no one is safe.