Reviews: Punchy, Magical, Uplifting Enthusiasm, Gold Coins: Director's Blog 39

"But if punchy performances, a magical set and uplifting enthusiasm could be converted into cash, it would be gold coins rather than sweets raining down upon the auditorium."
The Stage December 10 2012
Morning all - we are all so pleased with the reviews...! I think I might possibly like that quote rather a lot! This morning's blog consists of simply lovingly copying and pasting the reviews so you can see them all in one place without having to keep clicking on links!

Please do join in and comment. 
1. Cinderella

The Stage - Published Monday 10 December 2012 at 10:04 by Sally Stott 


As one of London’s most deprived areas, Barking could do with a bit of Christmas cheer and the Broadway’s defiantly upbeat annual pantomime has it against all the odds. At a time when the theatre has been left reeling from council funding cuts, and the tatty chicken shops and boarded-up buildings outside have yet to go away, this version of Cinderella - with her journey from poverty to princess - feels less like an age-old fantasy than modern-day wishful thinking. But if punchy performances, a magical set and uplifting enthusiasm could be converted into cash, it would be gold coins rather than sweets raining down upon the auditorium. 
In the Broadway’s first co-production with Arc - which works with communities and young people - director/producer Carole Pluckrose steers clear of anything too political. Sharif Afifi’s prince is a posh boy who owns an estate rather than coming from one, but Amy Green’s likeable Cinderella is nice enough not to question their differing circumstances too much. 


It’s largely a traditional take, but made fresh with an east London twist. Dean Kilford is a Pearly King-inspired Buttons, while Ian Crowe and Andy Gillies’ punk ugly sisters Nefaria and Lascivia are brilliantly blokey. 

As ever, the chorus of local young people - many of whom deserve to be talent spotted - is one of the highlights, as is musical director Phil Gostellow’s ridiculously infectious score. 


Production information: Broadway, Barking, December 1-January 2 
Author: Clifford Oliver 
Director: Carole Pluckrose 
Producer: The Broadway, Arc 
Cast includes: Amy Green, Sharif Afifi, Ian Crowe, Andy Gillies, Sally Fisher, Dean Kilford Running time: 2hrs Production information can change over the run of the show.

2. West End Broadway Reviews:
BWW Reviews: CINDERELLA The Broadway Theatre, Barking, December 7 2012. Ideal for the kids (and a good job too as there were plenty in) Cinderella (at The Broadway Theatre, Barking until 2 January) is a traditional panto with plenty of broad laughs (though very few double entendres), plenty of audience participation and plenty of spectacular bells and whistles that drew gasps from kids brought up on CGI and computer games. 

It underlines - as if we needed telling - that live shows are different and, after such an introduction, it's nice to think that some of the youngsters might come back to a theatre at the heart of its community.
That perspective is evident in the casting of local teen Amy Green as Cinders - she took a bit of time to find her stride with the singing, but came through strongly, especially leading the even younger chorus through a dance number pulled off with great aplomb. 

he music (written and directed by Phil Gostelow with lyrics by the show's writer, Clifford Oliver) was a real highlight - channeling the spirit of Lionel Bart in amongst the diaspora of the old East End in which he grew up. 
There's plenty of solid support from a cast who understand that panto is much more of a show than a play, with the kids in the audience squealing with delight every time an ad lib was picked up and incorporated into the action.

At two hours long (not including an interval) Carole Pluckrose's production gives great value for money. More importantly, the pace is brisk enough to discourage even the most disengaged of kids from reaching for the Nintendo DS, and the witty script and super songs provided plenty for the mums and dads too. 

More East End than West End - but no less fun for that - this Cinderella is a great family night out that will live long in kids' memories as an introduction to the magic of live theatre. 


Read more: http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW-Reviews-CINDERELLA-The-Broadway#ixzz2Eii2C2OL

3. WestEnd Wilma


http://www.westendwilma.com/cinderella-barking/

It isn’t very often I get to see shows close to home and so I love that my first panto of 2012 was on my own doorstep in Barking.

The Broadway Barking Theatre isn’t much to look at from the outside but when you eventually make it into the theatre (emerging from the carnage that is the box office) it is actually very nice. The building was renovated in 2004 and so has a very new feel to it, with steel structures and well pitched seats (the Theatre holds 350), it benefits from good leg room and spaciousness!
This is a new, specially written version of Cinderella with new script and songs. It would have been nice if there were some songs people knew but I suppose the one about a yodeling goldfish was easy enough to follow!
Barbara Jaeson plays Rubella, the wicked stepmother, with an endearingly wicked Janet Street Porter look about her.
I was impressed by 18-year-old Amy Green (who plays Cinderella). This is her first professional production but with her sweet look and voice she may do well in this business. It’s a shame that The Wizard of Oz isn’t still on as she would make a perfect Dorothy!




I loved the local feel of the panto. Andy Gillies(pictured right) plays ugly sister Lascivia hilariously. She looks like a market trader who has wandered in from outside the Theatre and had a dress and green wig put on as she is thrown on stage (think Mo Harris from Eastenders). It’s so awful, it works. That’s the thing with panto, there are usually only two results. Either it’s awful or it’s so awful it actually becomes quite good.
Adding even more to the local feel of the show, at one point Buttons (Dean Kilford) is told to kill the mice with a frying pan. He asks the audience ‘should I boys and girls?’ to which someone in the audience replied ‘yeah… him ‘em’. Only in Barking!


Sally Fisher (pictured right) plays fairy god mother Marsha well. With her broken wand (and song ‘It’s Hard To Be A Fairy When Your Wand Is Slightly Bent’) and more glitter than you can find in a stationery shop, she flitted around the stage and really got the audience involved.
The singers on stage were at times drowned by the two piece band, making it hard to hear what was being sung.
Credit must be given to Cinderella’s transformation from her simple rags into her ball gown. Even though I knew it was coming, I blinked and missed the clever trick which left the audience gasping and the magic change of clothes!
If you live locally, Cinderella at Barking’s Broadway Theatre certainly isn’t a waste of money and well worth watching. If you don’t live locally then you may find the cheap bar prices more that make up for the money you would spend getting there!


Why not go along a see it?
For more information and to book tickets click here
4. 
Cinderella – Broadway Theatre, Barking

Writer: Clifford Oliver
Director: Carole Pluckrose
Reviewer: Michael Gray
The Public Reviews Rating:


We’re all living in Hardup Hall these days; arts venues know this better than most. And to be honest, Cinderella at the Broadway has shoestring written all over it. That said, it’s a brave, and mostly enjoyable, attempt to keep the panto flag flying in this multi-purpose community venue.
Director Carole Pluckrose, making her first panto, seeks to create an original piece of musical theatre, “woven through with all the recognisable delights of panto”. Indeed the music, in the experienced hands of Barking veteran Phil Gostelow, is an undoubted strength of the production – a succession of singable, melodic numbers embracing a variety of genres: chirpy Tommy Steelery for our pearly Buttons in A Little Bit Of Mischief, Lionel Bart lite for If I Was A Lady, Lloyd Webber for the dry-ice love duet and a cheeky nod to David Rose and his Stripper for the Clenchbutt sisters and their raunchy fashion parade.
More disappointing is the staging – the idea of the revolving mini trucks is good, but the execution is frankly amateurish, and the black tab curtain does nothing to enhance the mood. Some good costumes – Rubella’s lady-in-red dress, the headgear for Nefaria and Lascivia. But not everyone can run to a change for the wedding, though the two-sided suit for Dean Kilford, who plays twin brothers Buttons and Dandini, is well done.

The seven principals work hard; because of its musical comedy ambitions, Clifford Oliver’s script gives them several contrasting styles to cope with. Dandini and his Prince have a retro feel to them, with nicely judged dialogue, and the best [or worst] line in the show from Dandini as he advises his master how best to meet the girl of his dreams: “You could try holding one of your balls, sir …”

Sharif Afifi is a charmingly clueless Prince, with a pleasant light singing voice; Kilford is excellent as his batman, with his stash of spare moustaches; his alter ego Buttons enjoys most of the interaction with the noisy audience. An original take on the local council’s Fairy Godmother by Sally Fisher, nicely down-to-earth and just a tad incompetent.

Barbara Jaeson makes a cold, steely stepmother; her Act One costume continuing the period theme. Andy Gillies, a punkish big-boned bruiser of an Ugly Sister rather overshadows her rival, Ian Crowe; both performances are suitably bold and brash. And a brilliant début for young Amy Green, in her first professional role, as Cinderella.

The pros are ably supported by an eight-strong juvenile chorus. They certainly prove their worth, shifting the scenery, singing and dancing, even delivering some dialogue. All very polished, especially perhaps Sam Willmore [the night I saw the show] as a knowing, confident Spud.


Some good effects ingeniously done – the wobbly flashback, the transformation, with Cinders’ dress changed in a shower of gold. But, for a panto, and probably for a musical, there was too much dialogue, and the kids might sympathise with Lascivia as she shouts “Don’t start singing again!” And as for sniffing the slipper…
Runs until 2nd January
5. A Younger Theatre
http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-cinderella-broadway-theatre/
10 December 2012 Written by Rebecca Hussein





Working in a school, I was delighted to learn that the year sevens would be studying pantomime for their Christmas assessment this year. I was less delighted to learn that very few of the year sevens had any concept of the pantomime, and even less had actually visited one. The question “what do we know about pantomime?”, was met by an uncharacteristic and confused silence. It gave rise to many worrying thoughts, namely the idea that panto, in this technologically absorbed world, is out of date and increasingly irrelevant to modern day audiences and, particularly, modern day children. Casting my mind towards the Barking Broadway’s Christmas offering of Cinderella that I was due to see that weekend, I dreaded the idea that it would confirm all my nagging doubts…
I needn’t have worried. Cinderella’s relentless energy, particularly within a small budget regional theatre like the Broadway, is truly uplifting and restored all my confidence in panto’s appeal for generations to come. Indeed, I was repeatedly hit in the face with a plastic sword by a small boy who could barely contain his excitement and squeals.
What is particularly heartening about this production is its celebration of the community that it calls home. Prince Charming of Dagenham, pronounced “Dar-jen-haam,” initially tells Cinderella he lives on a housing estate in order for her not to judge his upper class ways and Marsha the fairy godmother is employed by Barking and Dagenham council to grant wishes for free, while the fairy godmother of Conservative neighbouring borough Havering has doubled prices due to cuts. Epitomising this celebration of the community, created in partnership with local community theatre company Arc, are the local children of the cast, whose talent and enthusiasm is infectious.
The children are part of a fantastic cast that excel with some great audience interaction. Amy Green as Cinderella is adorable, and Ian Crowe and Andy Gillies steal the show as the two ugly stepsisters Nefaria and Lascivia. I was also particularly impressed with the set. After being exposed to pantomimes with varying budgets over the years, including one with a 3D genie, the understated but charming set works to enhance and not upstage the performances and script. At times the songs were a little lacklustre, and I must admit I was slightly relieved when the ugly stepsisters stopped one song in full flow because they’d “had enough of singing”. And yet this is a minor quibble in what is a thoroughly enjoyable show and one which doesn’t cease to promote the enduring spirit of pantomime.


Cinderella is playing at the Broadway Theatre until 2 January 2013. For more information and tickets, see the Broadway Theatre website
6.And last but not least a comment from the LBBD Facebook:
facebook 
Robynn McArthur-Tumber posted on London Borough of Barking and Dagenham's timeline 
"Thank you so much or our ticket for tonight's Cinderella. We have just got home after an amazing time!! I can't recommend the show enough. Perfect for all ages, my son Elliot 15months loved every minute he danced, clapped, sang, screamed and even enjoyed poking his tongue out at the step sister after the show!! My nephews Donnovan (6), meleck (3) jenson (16months) and my niece kyah (3) enjoyed it so much and were in awe at meeting the real Cinderella after the show too!! Myself and my sister haven't laughed so much in ages! Honestly I can't thank you enough for such a quality night!!! Xxx" 

















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Signing off for now!