Last night we went along to the press night of the York Theatre Royal Panto. This year the panto is Aladdin, and what a lovely family friendly extravaganza it was! As well as regulars like Robin Simpson (the larger than life Dame Dolly) and Paul Hawkyard (plays an excellent villain) the show starred Evie Pickerill as the Spirit of the Ring (if you look after younger children you will recognise her as one of the main presenters of CBeebies).
The show also starred the excellent Sario Solomon, the eponymous Aladdin (one of the winners of the BBC reality TV competition Let It Shine). I was very impressed with his singing and dancing, and it was nice to bring the drama of musical theatre to the show.
Dame Dolly was her usually bubbly self, encouraging audience participation which both kids and adults enjoyed. I do like a good pun and this panto was full of them!
The set was up to the Theatre Royal’s usual excellent standards, plenty of glitter and pizzazz, quick scene changes, pyrotechnics and more. In the second half you will be treated to the flying carpet scene which was truly spectacular!
Photography, as always isn’t allowed during the show, but there is a scene at the end where you can capture photos and videos to your heart’s content to make all your friends envious on Facebook (or TikTok if you are that way inclined!).
All in all, an excellent Christmas night out that the audience loved! The panto runs until the 5th of January and tickets can be bought from the York Theatre Royal website.
All the official info on the York Theatre Royal Panto this year:
CBeebies favourite and CBBC presenter Evie Pickerill leads the cast of Aladdin, this year’s spectacular family pantomime at York Theatre Royal. Evie – who will play the Spirit of the Ring – joins Robin Simpson and Paul Hawkyard, reunited as the Dame and the Villain, in Aladdin from 03 December 2024 to 05 January 2025.
Aladdin comes from the same York Theatre Royal and Evolution Productions team – writer Paul Hendy and director Juliet Forster – behind previous York pantomime hits Cinderella, All New Adventures of Peter Pan and Jack and the Beanstalk. Evie is one of the main presenters on children’s television channel CBeebies. She also regularly hosts on CBBC and has guest starred on Blue Peter. She has been hosting CBeebies since 2018 and has also performed leading roles in both their Christmas and Shakespeare productions. Aladdin director Juliet Forster previously directed Evie as Juliet in a CBBC Shakespeare production.
Robin Simpson, returns as Dame Dolly after a hat-trick of main stage pantomime appearances as Manky in Cinderella, Mrs Smee in All New Adventures of Peter Pan and Dame Trott in Jack and the Beanstalk. Robin also played Dame in the theatre’s Travelling Pantomime which toured to city venues.
Yorkshire actor Paul Hawkyard follows his villainous Captain Hook in All New Adventures of Peter Pan with the equally villainous Ivan Tobebooed in Aladdin.
Sario Solomon, who plays Aladdin, was one of the winners of the BBC reality TV competition Let It Shine which aimed to find five young men to play the boy band Five to Five in a new touring stage show called The Band, featuring the songs of Take That. He is currently on tour playing Sonny in the musical Grease.
The cast also features Emily Tang as Princess Jasmine and Tommy Carmichael as Charlie. Rowan Armitt-Brewster plays PC World and is also part of the Ensemble which features Emily Taylor (dance captain), Kyle Jermain, Aimee Lorenza Boyd, Chris Morgan Shillingford and Charlotte Rose O’Sullivan.
Choreographer is Hayley Del Harrison. Musical Director and drummer is Ed Gray with Neil Morgan (guitarist) and Alex Faulkner (keys).
Aladdin is sponsored by City Cruises and Roomzzz York.
We were invited to attend the press night and as always, all opinions expressed are my own.
