‘THIS time next year there be will seven productions of The Bodyguard around the world. We’re currently running at the Dominion Theatre (in the West End), in Cologne, Germany and Utrecht, Holland, which are both into a second year,” says Wallsend-born producer/director Michael Harrison, who is responsible for the remarkable run of successful pantos at Newcastle Theatre Royal.

He was about to fly out to New York to audition for the US tour, which opens at The Paper Mill Playhouse, New Jersey, towards the end of this month. “Unfortunately, it’s the same time as Cinderella opens in Newcastle. So, I won’t be in New Jersey, I’ll be in Newcastle.

“We open in South Korea in December and then take the entire Dominion company for 15 weeks to Toronto in February. We open the Italian production, in Milan, in March and we open the Australian version in April.”

And this is a show that theatre critics were divided about initially. “The great thing is that the West End isn’t about the critics. In fact, if all the critics unanimously say that something is brilliant then they can move it from a hit to a mega-hit. If some like it and some don’t, which is what was the case with The Bodyguard, it’s not enough to kill it if the audience like it. I was looking at the poster of the original show on my office wall the other day and five of the nationals gave it four stars. On our recent opening at the Dominion, The Times gave it a great four-star review. If one night you come and see Cinderella here and the next you see Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in No Man’s Land you’re going to take a different view. This is comparing apples with oranges.”

Harrison is proud that the view now is that The Bodyguard is the best film-to-stage-musical adaptation so far. Annie, which Harrison’s company opened in Newcastle starring Craig Revel Horwood, has done well on a UK tour and is preparing for South Africa. With Sonia Friedman, Harrison is co-producing the tour of Funny Girl (due to star Sheridan Smith, in Newcastle, in May).

Harrison also adapted the saucy movie Mrs Henderson Presents into a stage musical in the West End for five months and is taking it to Toronto in March.

“Then there’s a new musical which I can’t say much about yet, but it’s a reinvention of a Broadway show and I’m hoping that we can do the pre-West End try-out in Newcastle next year.”

The subject of Tyneside brings us back to this year’s Theatre Royal pantomime and 12 years of success which started off with Harrison’s gamble of hiring father and son comedy act Clive Webb and Danny Adams.

“I’d seen them the year before and thought, ‘These boys are funny, and I’d like the audience that I know in Newcastle to see these guys’ and we put them on the bill and I remember being told that the late Peter Sarah, the general manager of the Theatre Royal, will hate Clive and Danny. ‘They are anarchic, they’re messy,’ I was told, but I pestered and pestered and got my way. That particular first panto, people saw a change from what had gone on before and I think that people saw the costumes and sets were better. I introduced an original score and the ante was just upped and Jill Halfpenny had just come out of Strictly and been part of Coronation Street and EastEnders and it really worked. I remember a photograph being taken of them doing their own show, Circus Hilarious, and the theatre was rammed with people wanting them to sign merchandise.

“I thought it was time to give them a go. It was also around the time we started introducing 3D effects, so we persuaded Philip Bernays (chief executive) to give them top of the bill and we were lucky that Faye Tozer agreed to add the celebrity feel to the panto and that year Chris Hayward joined the team. By year four we were so confident of how well Clive and Danny were doing we tried that bizarre title Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates. It’s been a successful partnership and I guess when somebody at some point writes the next history book of Newcastle Theatre Royal – and it’s not over yet – but it’s a significant part of this venue’s history, particularly in pantomime terms. It’s probably untouchable.

“Philip’s first day working in this theatre was Monday, December 5, the year of Cinderella and that was the first day this company arrived with Jill, Clive and Danny. He’s been with it from the beginning. We didn’t have any special effects, and there were no toys. Twelve years on I wouldn’t dream of having the same set and this year we’ve got phenomenal, sumptuous, ice cream cone-style designs.”

Has the cost of staging one of the best regional pantos in the country gone up as well? “We spend far more now. What happened is that Newcastle has become the testing ground for me and if it’s new it plays here first and if I like it I roll it out across the rest of the country. Think of all the effects we’ve had over the years like the Flying Car (that’s now going to Aberdeen), all the stuff from Dick Whittington last year is going to Birmingham Hippodrome this year. We now have two of Danny’s flying carpet and one is in Wolverhampton and the other is in Llandudno. The reindeer and sleigh is in Birmingham, the T-Rex is going to Southampton. Newcastle leads and the rest follow.”

With Cinderella moving on to the London Palladium, there will be eight pumpkins transforming and Cinderella will fly to the ball with more than one horse. Chris Hayward, as Fairy Godmother, is arriving on a giant butterfly and Buttons’ gift of a teddy bear to Cinderella will be “a little bit special”. The audience can also expect a 3D journey through a haunted forest.

“Cinderella is not my favourite, but when you get the opportunity to do something different like this then it becomes exciting.”

Do you still have time to get any sleep, I ask. “Well, I’ve got a one-year-old baby, so no,” jokes Harrison.

“Last year, Danny Adams was in the middle of the technical rehearsal and I knew my wife Catherine had our son, Alfie, up here, but Danny walked him out and put his feet down so he made his first steps on the Theatre Royal stage. Danny admitted he was scared I was about to let off a thundercrack, or something, or a big rat would emerge to put Alfie off pantomime for life. That would be a great story wouldn’t it. Who put you off panto?... Danny Adams.

“I think you always strive to do better and I’m very critical of my own panto and always striving to make them better everywhere and, in the main, we do. As long as the audience keeps coming that’s all I care about. Mrs Henderson was a hard decision, but I decided to do it because my previous two shows had been a jukebox musical and a revival in Gypsy, which couldn’t have gone better. It was the most talked about show of the year and filmed for the BBC. The show won four Oliviers which have pride of place in my office. It was time to support some new writing. I’m going to keep doing it. I’ve got another musical that is in the works with a relatively new composer and book writer. I love doing the pantomimes, but I also love doing the things that are new and surprising. I don’t have to come back to Newcastle every year... but it’s top of my list. I’ll sit on the plane to New York with the Newcastle script, but there is more pressure here than anywhere else because I’m anonymous. Here, people stop me in the street and ask, ‘Please do the 12 days of Christmas routine again’,” says Harrison.

And, no, the popular song isn’t on this time. The panto powerhouse producer feels that a four-year gap is worthwhile to ensure Tyneside audiences keep growing.

n Cinderella plays Newcastle Theatre Royal, Tuesday, November 22 to Sunday, January 15. Box office: 08448-112121 or theatreroyal.co.uk