Pantomime
Cinderella
SEC, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
***
WHOOSH! and in a twirl of shimmering sequins, Fairy Alice arrives on-stage and promptly declares, in pure dead Glesca rhyming couplets that she’s ‘gallus Alice’ from Shieldinch. Frances Thorburn’s delightfully twinkling Alice has a reassuring warmth about her - leading you to think that it’s going to be alright for Cinderella, and for us, the audience.
There are other reasons to expect good things here: the Krankies are back at the SEC where they helped kickstart the venue’s successful engagement with pantomime - and whatever they do, it’s likely to be fandabidozi, folks. Moreover, Gavin Mitchell and Jonathan Watson are going all OTT grotesque as the Ugly Sisters, Hinger and Minger - what could be better than a double act of two Dames?
What ticks boxes on paper, however, doesn’t always join up the essential dots on-stage and, on the first night of its December run, this Cinderella felt oddly underpowered and short on both charm and mayhem.
The bright spots were definitely the Krankies, initially as bumbling Baron Hardup (Ian) and cheeky, lovable Buttons (Janette) before closing the show as Ian and Wee Jimmy - channelling an evergreen spirit of vaudeville and amiable vulgarity even as they acknowledged that, like some of their best-beloved jokes, they too were getting old.
That admission then morphs into another comedic gambit, as they wrongfoot each other on cues and repartee, and laughingly pass it off as ‘having a senior moment.’ There’s some topical new material - a skit where he’s Trump and she’s Kim Jong-un - but when she climbs on his knee, and gets thrown around like a ventriloquist’s dummy, it’s vintage Krankies and it brings the house down.
Elsewhere, the Cinderella story unfolds with well-staged musical numbers, a sweet Cinders (Gemma Lawson), lavish costuming and a coach that’s a magic surprise. But the splendidly outré Dames don’t get nearly enough to do - fewer garish frocks, more louche patter is what they, and the audience, would really relish.
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