Last night we attended press night for the York Theater Royal Panto. This year's panto was Aladdin and it was such a lovely family friendly festival! As well as regulars such as Robin Simpson (an extraordinary Dame Dolly) and Paul Hawkyard (a great villain), the show also starred Evie Pickerill as the Spirit of the Ring (a must-see for those looking after younger children). , you'll notice she's one of the spirits of the ring) (the main presenter of CBeebies).
The show also featured the excellent Thario Solomon, aka Aladdin (one of the winners of the BBC reality show competition Let It Shine). I was so moved by his singing and dancing, and it was great to be able to bring some musical theater drama to the show.
Dame Dolly was always upbeat and encouraged audience participation, entertaining children and adults alike. I love puns and this panto was full of them.
The set was up to the Theater Royal's usual excellent standards, with lots of glitz and glamour, quick scene changes and fireworks. The flying carpet scene in the second half was truly spectacular!
As always, photography is not allowed during the show, but at the end you can take as many photos and videos as you like and post them on Facebook (or TikTok, if you're so inclined!) that all your friends will be jealous of. There's a scene. .
All in all, it was a great Christmas night that was loved by the audience. The panto runs until January 5 and tickets are available to buy from York Theater Royal's website.
All official information about this year's York Theater Royal Panto:
CBeebies favorite and CBBC presenter Evie Pickerill is leading the cast of this year's epic family pantomime Aladdin at York Theater Royal. Evie, who plays the Spirit of the Ring, will reunite as Dame and the villain alongside Robin Simpson and Paul Hawkyard in Aladdin from December 3, 2024 to January 5, 2025.
Aladdin hails from the York Theater Royal and Evolution Productions team (writer Paul Hendy, director Juliet Forster), which includes previous York pantomime hits Cinderella, The New Adventures of Peter Pan and Jack I am working on “Beanstalk”. Evie is one of the main presenters on the children's television channel CBeebies. She is also a regular presenter on CBBC and has guest-starred on Blue Peter. She has been the host of CBeebies since 2018 and has played lead roles in both Christmas productions and Shakespeare productions. Aladdin director Juliet Foster previously directed Evie as Juliet in CBBC's Shakespeare production.
Robin Simpson scores a hat-trick of main stage pantomime appearances as Mankey in Cinderella, Mrs Smee in The New Adventures of Peter Pan and Dame Trott in Jack and the Beanstalk Afterwards, she returns as Dame Dolly. Robin also played the role of Dame in the theater's Traveling Pantomime, which toured venues around the city.
Yorkshire actor Paul Hawkyard played the villainous Captain Hook in The New Adventures of Peter Pan and similarly villainous Ivan Tveboud in Aladdin.
Thario Solomon, who plays Aladdin, is one of the winners of the BBC reality show competition Let It Shine, which aims to help boy band Five in a new touring stage show called The Band. The task was to find five young people to perform “Two Five.” Take it. He is currently on tour playing the role of Sonny in the musical Grease.
The cast also includes Emily Tan as Princess Jasmine and Tommy Carmichael as Charlie. Rowan Armit Brewster plays in PC World and is also part of an ensemble that also stars Emily Taylor (Dance Captain), Kyle Germain, Amy Lorenza Boyd, Chris Morgan Shillingford and Charlotte Rose O'Sullivan.
Choreographer: Haley Dell Harrison. Musical director and drummer are Ed Gray, Neil Morgan (guitarist) and Alex Faulkner (keys).
Aladdin is sponsored by City Cruises and Rooms York.
We were invited to the press night, but as always, all opinions expressed are my own.
