Cinderella

Sparklers and Bangers

Cinderella

by Harry Michaels and Alan McHugh, additional material by Gary Wilmot

Crossroads Pantomimes at Richmond Theatre until 4^th January 2026

Review by Mark Aspen

For this panto shades are obligatory. But we haven’t seen the sun since September and they’re certainly not to “hide” one’s celebrity status from the paparazzi. (Critics definitely have to keep a low profile!) No, it’s its to protect one’s eyesight from the dazzle of the glistening, gleaming, glinting glitter, and the scintillating sparkle of the show.

Best of all, Richmond’s pantomime is a traditional telling of the Cinderella story. There’s no trying to shoehorn the story into a sci-fi setting, or a horror history or a rock ‘n’ roll rollick. That’s not to say here isn’t plenty of fantasy, scary bits, or lovely loud music. We have it in silver-coachloads. There’s fantasy from the fairy godmother, scares from the (s)catty ugly sisters and a blast of bold bangers from the band. The only shoehorning is from the ugly sisters trying to squeeze soapbox feet into the glass slipper.

This production is based firmly on musical theatre skills, tuneful singing from the cast, energetic dancing from the ensemble and principals, and lively symbiotic music from the orchestra. Of course, being a panto, there is lots of techie stuff, and well-crafted designs are executed with slick precision.

A Crossroads hardy perennial, musical director Pierce Tee conducts the half-dozen musicians from the keyboard and does so with great panache. His versatile players, doubling instruments, enhance the usual pop grouping with flugelhorn and flute, to give a wonderful (em)bracing sound. The music is part of the action and snaps in with Tom Marshall’s sound design.

The dance ensemble are choreographed by Stephen Mear and busily transmogrify between roles, including dancing pumpkins and polar bear jockeys! The principals put in some impressive steps too, including a furious dance-off between Dandini and Buttons.

An impressive feature of this Cinderella is the fantastical array of costumes, created by designer Teresa Nalton and her team. The ugly sisters have their accustomed array of wacky cossies, plus some show-stopping millinery.

Brilliant in a more literal sense are the lighting effects designed by the prolific Graham J McLusky, scintillating, colourful and atmospheric. Not tone is left unturned (usually turned full-on); and specials galore lead to the now obligatory child-pleasing glitter-flake shower in the finale. And of course there are plenty of pyros for the Fairy Godmother.

Always appearing in a flash, the Fairy Godmother is there to provide all the soothing reassurances to Cinderella, and ensure us that good prevails. Helen George takes maternity leave from her Nurse Franklin role to take up the fairy wand, and in this more glamorous role she certainly delivers. And she looks the part, clad in shimmering white, but with a hint of allure in the dress’s opalescent split skirt. However, FG’s obstetric approach is business with sympathy: push, push and it will all come out all right.

Cinderella’s other big supporter is of course the household gopher Buttons. Charlie Stemp excels in this role, with an endearing balance of playfulness and pathos. He plays Buttons as a cheerful chappie Eastender, and all the children love him. His energy is boundless and his resilience enviable. Olivier-nominated Stemp has a wide versatility, as we see in his working of the many gags and turns in this show. His tongue-twister relay with the Ugly Sisters and the Baron is hilarious, that dance-off with Dandini exemplary, and then there’s the visual conjurer’s gag with the Fairy Godmother, the “Musculator”. This is a magic kiosk that she uses to fulfil his wish to be more athletically well-toned in order to win-over Cinderella. The result, impressive but rather one-dimensional, requires some very nimble performing. It elicits lots of delighted but incredulous squeals from a very receptive audience.

The baron, Cinderella’s father, Baron Basil, is played with insouciant aplomb by Basil Brush. I last saw Brush a few years ago at a private party and first saw him in 1962 and, do you know what, he never seems to age! As Baron Basil, his Terry-Thomas-ified top-drawer accent lends a certain risqué air, ideal for the panto, where vulpine quick-fire pays dividends. The usual put-upon hapless Baron Hardup here has a punchy pragmatism. And he is well up to ad-libbing, as must in panto. (MW remains heroically anonymous!) Boom-boom, what!

Hope Dawe is the sweetest of Cinderellas, portraying an innocence tempered with feisty bite, yet with a naïve vulnerability. It is this naïvety that keep her trusting the Ugly Sisters, even when events should show her the contrary. It eventually gets her locked in a deep wardrobe when the Prince’s entourage arrives with the lost slipper. Tom Major, just having launched his career, makes a confident and regal Prince Charming. He brings a fresh wholesomeness to the character. These two young performers have great mutual chemistry, and both sing and dance beautifully. They both also shine in the a scene with a jealous Buttons as their love duet is repeatedly sabotaged by being pulled ignominiously off of a Humpty-Dumpty wall, in a seemingly hazardous (and hence very funny) piece of physical theatre.

Michael Lin, who started his career as a young dancer in Hong Kong, is a wide-ranging actor who creates a lively and personable Dandini. His is an empathic and lively presence with natural acting and a winning dancing style.

Now, what about those Ugly Sisters? Well, the are gorgeously brash, camp and, well . . . ugly. Then there’s the comic effect of a Jack Sprat pair; Jak Allen-Anderson, as Hernia Hardup is tall, lean, imposing; as Verruca Hardup, Stephen Guarino is short, stocky, solid (make-up and costume magic of course). Guarino is an American actor, but clearly understands that most British of entertainments, the panto. He puts gusto and ooph into his role of marvellously vulgar Verruca. Allen-Anderson manages to put unexpected grace into his interpretation of Hernia, but he is a Royal Ballet School trained dancer. His Hernia may be wickedly repulsive, but she has a style, albeit a nails scratching on glass sort of style. They both have their work cut out with quick changes between more and more outlandish costumes, frocks and hats to die for . . . probably of a heart attack running away. They are also ultra busy finding double-entendres in almost every sentence. Some are even subtle, so you have to be quick. However, their catch-phrase “Shut yer mouth!”, said with real vehemence, does tend to grate after a few repeats.

Big, boisterous and bling-bedecked, director Gary Wilmot has spared nothing in assembling a high-energy Cinderella. Although with plenty of style drawn from the musical theatre, and it is worth reiterating the dynamic skills of that dance ensemble, he steers it enough towards the traditional pantomime to satisfy the most pedantic purist. There’s that odd mixture of lip-smacking vulgarity and sweet romantic glamour that makes up the essence of panto.

Richmond’s sparkling Cinderella is fun, fun, fun. So, ditch those dark glasses. You’ll need to, so you can wipe away the tears of laughter. Most of the audience were.

Mark Aspen, December 2025

Photography by Ian Olsson