Aladdin is set in York and follows the titular character. Aladdin, who is the son of Dame Dolly, the owner of a joke shop down The Shambles, falls in love with Princess Jasmine, and thankfully, she falls in love with him too. However, Aladdin is sent on a mission to get the lamp by Ivan Tobebooed, resulting in his and his family’s lives changing quite substantially. Of course, it ends with the perfect happy ending, as all pantomimes should.
The cast comprised of some recurring faces at York Theatre Royal’s pantomime and some new additions, including Sario Solomon and Emily Tang, as Aladdin and Princess Jasmine, respectively. The cast were also joined by Evie Pickerill, one of the main presenters on Cbeebies. A standout performance was from Rowan Armitt-Brewster, who played PC World. He was incredibly funny and provided comic relief with his fellow cast members throughout the show. Every member of the ensemble was fantastic, with most of them having many quick changes throughout the show, which was incredibly impressive. All the cast were having a lovely time doing the show, with plenty of corpsing and silly jokes, which set off the full cast, which is part of the magic of panto.
The music throughout the show was quite good and the cast sang the songs well, with a mix of older songs (for the adults) such as Teenage Dirtbag and a mash-up of I’ve Got A Feeling and Greatest Days, and the use of some musical theatre songs, including What You Want from Legally Blonde and an adapted version of the Elephant Love Medley from Moulin Rouge. As they did use musical theatre songs quite a lot, if you’re missing your musicals at your local theatre during panto season, this might be one for you to see.
The set (Morgan Brind) was impressive - simple, yet very intricate. There were big set pieces with smaller things painted onto them, which was effective for this pantomime, adding to the set in a helpful way without having multiple set pieces when changing sets quickly throughout the pantomime. There was also a fantastic scene where Aladdin flew on the magic carpet and flies out into the audience singing to Sam Ryder’s ‘Spaceman,’ which was the highlight of the show. The set also integrated a lot of the lighting (Jack Weir), which was good to see and worked well throughout certain parts of the show.
The costumes (Brind and Hazel Fall) were also fantastic, always reflecting the story of Aladdin, with police officers wearing harem trousers as part of their uniform, for example. Pickerill’s Spirit of the Ring costume was amazing, with plenty of sequins and sparkles, alongside Princess Jasmine’s. A shout-out must be made to the creators of the mummy costumes, which had massive googly eyes and moved as the ensemble danced around, which was a nice, silly addition to the costumes.
However, due to having a Cbeebies star as one of the main characters, the pantomime feels like it has been created more for younger children and their families than teenagers and adults coming to see the show. It also meant that the show ended up being quite repetitive, with the same things being asked of the audience, which became too repetitive in quite a long show.
However, the children loved getting involved every time and seeing the children enjoy the show brought joy to the pantomime and increased the Christmas spirit! There was an attempt to provide some jokes for the adults, but these tended to be quick puns (which obviously received a lot of groans as all awful panto jokes do) or surrounding issues like parking, potholes, and council cuts, which didn’t feel all that festive.
Overall, whilst this show has many good elements, it is a very family-friendly show, mainly focused on younger audience members. Whilst it will be perfect for many families, it misses the mark for those not attending with children.
Aladdin runs at York Theatre Royal until 5th January 2025.
★★★☆☆ (3*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by SR Taylor
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