If you’re after a full on, all singing and dancing classic Panto this Christmas then Crewe Lyceum are serving a massive portion of it.
We were very kindly invited along to the Press Night at Crewe Lyceum for their Cinderella Panto.
Filled with big characters including X Factor winner, Music Artist and Musical Theatre star Matt Terry who heads up the cast of Cinderella as Prince Charming. Plus returning by popular demand, Crewe’s treasured dame Malcolm Lord as the Fairy Godmother and the hilarious Ste Johnston as Buttons. They are joined by rising star, Eve Parsons as Cinderella.
It’s got everything! Romance, humour, big musical numbers and cheekiness.
Keeping to the classic love story, with Cinders looses her glass slipper leaving early from the ball and her horrid step sisters make her life miserable.
It’s jam packed with traditional Panto steretypes. The big personalities and enthusiastic cast members make the show really breathtaking.
Ste Johnston pulled off slapstick comedy at its best, with a hillarious scene involving a large amount of foam and Buttons being the victim of those evil step sisters. Ste Johnston demonstrates his amazing ability to ad lib as things went abit chaotic on stage. The floor became a slip hazard, resulting in some comedy moments of him on his back and not able to get up. He also has the ability to pull off some cheeky adult only jokes and a couple digs at Crewe with his forgiveable grin. Buttons held the Panto together, even through the madness. My eldest daughter loved his ad libbing and how he would just laugh at what was going on on stage.
The show was full of audience interaction. Not just the classic “boooos” and “oh no he’s not, oh yes he is” but we were screaming out “pot noodle pintcher” which I never thought I’d be doing. Three lucky children got to go up onto stage to help Buttons sing Old McDonald which was super cute.
The show was full of Wow moments. Some of our favourite scenes included:
- Cinderella’s carriage. This was absolutely amazing and the horse pulling it was magical and something i’d not seen before.
- Buttons amazing story where he uses basically every chocolage bar within his tale was so clever and imaginative.
- The big finale of the Wedding of Cinderella and Prince Charming was immense. The stage was full of all the cast wearing fantastic, sparkly costumes. Cinderella’s dress inparticular was gorgeous, a dress of dreams.
The Fairy Godmother presented the show and kept popping up through out with a little wave. Her costumes were out of this world. Massive elaborate dresses covered in novelty items like a fried egg. When Malcolm Lord and Ste Johnston were on stage together they bounced off eachother perfectly and was definetly never a dull moment.
Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters were truly evil in this performance. They bully Cinders and even the audience isnt safe from their nasty comments. They looked horrendously bad with their fashion sense and facials expressions which made them hilarious.
The devilishly good looking Prince charming and the gorgeous, scottish Cinderella were fabulous together. Their love looked sincere and it was gorgeous to see them sing and dance together. Matt Terry can seriously sing and ive since had him playing on spotify.
Crewe Lyceum Theatre is a wonderfully, intimate venue. With a lavishly decorated auditorium, complete with intricately detailed plasterwork, proscenium arch and ceiling rose. It’s bursting with history and makes for a great place to watch a Christmas Panto.
There’s no official car park linked to the theatre, but there are plenty of places to park nearby: We Park at Asda which is free after 6pm.
Find out what pantos are on in Cheshire 2023
