Aladdie Review – Rags to Riches Panto is a fun and enchanting journey | Bantu season

WWho needs a flying carpet when you’re taking the bus to Maypole? The climax of Fraser Boyle’s hilarious scene comes when Abanazar (Gavin John Wright) leaks the location of his not-so-secret hideout and goes after the rest of the cast. On public transportation. On the movie. Outside broadcasting has never been so funny.

Not that the villain has much of a chance: after stealing the magic lamp and summoning his four genies (in a grand show of community engagement, the cast outnumbers the special effects), he recklessly squanders his three wishes. Fortunately, Wright enjoys our booing as much as we do.

Located in Ancient New Cumnock, Tom Cooper’s production is a wonderful blend of tradition and authenticity. On the one hand, it’s a rosy-cheeks, spotty-socks kind of show, complete with painted backgrounds and familiar music that includes everything from ’70s disco mixes to Tom Lehrer’s Poisoned Pigeons in the Park (Boyle’s script has a pigeon fixation).

On the other hand, along with JK Rowling’s quips and six or seven jokes, it deviates from the standard fairy tale to present a tale of wealth. Princess Destiny (Mia Musakambiva) refuses to be Nebo’s child. Despite being the daughter of the Empress Oonagh, from Ayrshire (the imposing Hannah Hoey), chose business school and worked at Widow Twankie Laundromat.

She has a better sense of Aladdie’s (Louis Kerr) worth than he does. Riches are usually the solution to a boy’s problems. Here they are the problem. His move to a flashy arrival only serves to alienate her.

Yet this is not Kerr’s show, despite his wonderful musical theater voice. Not even that of Will, an equal-opportunity woman who generously shares laughs with all the actors. No, this show belongs to Ciara Flynn as Alacy, the protagonist’s little sister and our entry point into the murky world of adult love and greed. With Clara Bow’s big-eyed, black-lashed expression, our subversive friend pokes fun at empress and lowlife alike, landing every gag before bursting into a hilarious group show chorus.