Dance

The Snowman

Theatre Royal, Glasgow

Mary Brennan, four stars

A COMPUTER geek with Grinch-like tendencies could probably reduce this production to kill-joy algorithms. Cynically unpick the sentimental storyline, the jolly designs, the delightful music and expound on why cutesy-furry animals induce smitten "aaawww!" responses, or a more-ish tune like Walking in the Air acts like magic dust on our ears. But – sorry, Grinches. everywhere – it’s impossible to nail the precise DNA of charm and enchantment, those elusive, beguiling ingredients that still make The Snowman irresistible to audiences worldwide.

It’s 30 years since choreographer Robert North, composer Howard Blake and Birmingham Repertory Theatre joined creative forces to bring Raymond Briggs’s much-loved picture book on-stage. Feelgood fun was successfully infused with his poignant awareness of how young, and old, long for everyday life to spring fantastical surprises – like a Snowman that comes to life and whisks you off on midnight adventures.

And oh, what dance-y larks Briggs’s lucky Boy and his Snow-chum have here. Once the Snowman (Martin Fenton) has sampled the curiosities of life indoors he and The Boy go madly vrooming around on a (proper) motorbike. Humour and whimsy combine pleasingly, until the other-worldly strains of Walking in the Air signal that the pair are about to take flight. And it’s breath-taking, affecting even. You’ve sensed The Boy (an engagingly lively Harley Gallacher) is a solitary little lad, and now – hand-in-hand with the affable Snowman – he’s en route to the North Pole. Scuttering penguins, a boisterous Father Christmas, characterful Snow-folk, a daintily balletic Ice Princess - dashingly partnered by the Snowman – make Act Two into a hi-jinks hooley despite the drmatically menacing Jack Frost. Yes, it all melts away in the end... but somewhere it’s snowing, and magic might be in the air for an imaginative child.