Aladdin at New Brighton Floral Pavilion

In our house Christmas isn’t Christmas without local pantomime. So, as part of our Christmas countdown every year we try to see a local show and clearly we’re all expert in what we expect from our Christmas pantomime viewing. We want to shout ‘BOOOO’, we want Benny Hill type running, we want in-jokes about local football teams, we want ghosts, we want smoke machines and we especially want camp (lots OF CAMP!). We want to be screaming out ‘Oh no it isn’t’ and ‘He’s behind you’ and possibly to partake in a bit of audience participation in the form of a song (with actions).

So this year we journeyed up the road to New Brighton (on the Wirral) for the Floral Pavilion’s performance of Aladdin and, oh yes, our expectations were fulfilled.

Andrew Agnew, who is best known as the Crime Busting P.C. Plum (Balamory), was utterly perfect as Wishee Washee. He stole the show. Seeing his dance moves to ‘We Built This City’ might actually be my highlight of 2011. And the interaction between him, PC Ping and PC Pong was both sleek and amusing. (I will NEVER look at P.C. Plum in the same way again…)

Abanazar was especially evil as Dean Sullivan (Jimmy Corkhill in Brookside) took on the role. His performance was effortless and I am possibly a little bit scared of him now. And the frocked-up Dame was played by the super-talented Anthony Williams. He was also director of the performance, which (in my eyes) makes him a bit of a wizard. His performance of ‘Born This Way’ (with Andrew Agnew providing a rap) was utter genius. And his legs in tights and a short skirt were a lot special. It is utterly unfair that a man can look THAT good in a short skirt and tights.

So, the almost three hours that we spent in the theatre were utterly Christmassy hours. There was thigh slapping, river dancing, powerful songs, jazz hands and the stage settings and changes were without flaw.

I’ve been to a few pantomimes at the Floral Pavilion but this one was streets ahead of the others.

For me, having Littlest grab my hand when a ghost appeared on stage (He’s behind you!) and me giggling at corny jokes and ogling a semi-naked genie and thoroughly enjoying innuendo, well that’s what pantomime is all about. And when P.C. Plum (yes, I know that’s not his name) was sending out birthday wishes and kisses, I reckon one was especially for me (a girl can dream!).

So that, for me, is the start of Christmas. It’s about embracing a good honest British tradition, it’s about having family fun and (most importantly) it’s about laughing together.

If you’re local and get a chance, do catch a performance of Aladdin at New Brighton Floral Pavilion. It’s running until Monday 2 January 2012 and all details can be found here.