Sleeping Beauty: Sunderland Empire Theatre
VICKY Entwistle, wow – her bad fairy, Carabosse, is the most convincing thing about this panto. Everyone who has ever watched Coronation Street will remember the straight talking Janice Battersby. She’s the best actor on stage and the surprise is that she can really sing – her smoky voice a reminder of Eartha Kitt with strains of Nina Simone.
Faye Tozer is perfectly cast as the Good Fairy. The fact that she won a Brit award for her vocals in the pop band Steps guarantees that she can sing – great rendition of Tragedy – and acting-wise, she nailed it. Tozer and Entwistle bounce off one another like they’ve been comedy partners forever.
The rest of the cast are pretty fab too. Bobby Crush is still the consummate entertainer; director, Andrew Agnew, is a splendid Silly Billy and Amy-Leigh Hickman shows off her delicious voice as Sleeping Beauty. A most handsome Prince Philip (Arthur Boan) could do with a bit more va-va-voom, but he’s still a pleasure to watch – great legs.
What lets this show down is the cumbersome, rather scant, rhyming script, which only Tozer and Entwistle really pull off. The slapstick scene are a little light on the slop and slapstick... dropping a 50p piece into a bowl of flour would make more mess.
Glitzy costumes and sets are all magnificent and despite being more like a musical than a panto, all the ingredients of a fantastic show are present, but the running time of almost three hours is more yawn-inducing that the title.
* Runs until December 31. Box Office: 0844-871-3042 or ATGtickets.com/Sunderland
Helen Brown
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