The Manchester Opera House was full of laughter and singing last night for the Press Night showing of the pantomime Cinderella. Joshua, myself and his grandparents were sat amongst the audience and we had a wonderful evening! From start to finish there was plenty of magic, silliness, music, and laughter!
The ugly sisters were a fantastic pair and Joshua thought they were hilarious! They were played by Coronation Street stars Connor McIntyre and Les Dennis, any fans of the soap will love the Corrie references and jokes! They worked well together, brought a fab mix of characteristics making the audience love them and hate them all at the same time. Their outfits were totally outrageous!
Prince Charming was played by Pop Idol star Gareth Gates and he definitely brought plenty of charm to the character. There was also loads of funny jokes too including pop idol and Will Young references.
Shannon Flynn was Cinderella and she had a lovely voice. The scenes with Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother (Hayley-Ria Christian) were so magical, watching her rags change to a beautiful gown was amazing, full of magic! There’s also a brilliant scene (pictured below) where Prince Charming and Cinderella sing Unchained Melody, it doesn’t go to plan when Button gets involved- brilliant scenes!
The pantomime was full of all the traditional humour that you’d expect with the right mix of modern music and jokes. The audience could all sing along to The Greatest Showman tunes and the kids of course loved the Baby Shark reference!
There must have been a big budget for this panto, the set was fantastic and so were the outfits! Some of the gags or ‘magic’ scenes were extremely clever. The entire audience was in awe when the pumpkin turned into a beautiful carriage with flying horses. Yes, I said flying horses!
One character I must mention was Joshua’s favourite of the show. Actually, he was mine too and his grandparents! Buttons, played by comedian Ben Nickless stole the show for us. Whenever he was on the stage you knew it was going to be genius! He had the whole audience in stitches with his comedy impressions and sketches. To name a few fantastic scenes; the Take That impression was fab, him singing Elvis as a broken record was brilliant and the music scene when the ugly sisters are dressed as a can and a packet of crisps was terrific! My father-in-law commented how he’d buy another ticket just to come and see Ben Nickless perform again!
There is something for everyone at the Opera House, Cinderella is really for young and old, it’s magical for all ages! There’s the perfect mix of ‘Oh No It Isn’t’ and ‘It’s Behind You’ as well as silly scenes the kids will love and grown-up jokes for the adults.
We all have a fantastic evening, a trip to the panto at Christmas is certain a family affair and this one isn’t to be missed!
Cinderella is on now until Sunday 30th Decemeber 2018, more ticket information here.
Photo credit : Phil Tragen Photography
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