For Milton Keynes Theatre's 2023 pantomime, production company Crossroads has come up with its take on the classic story of
Cinderella. Often told, and a panto staple of many a theatre this year, it is required to come up with a spin or two to make it stand out from the pack. However, does it have enough fresh ideas and lavishness to be the big MK Theatre show of 2023?
Fortunately, the answer is yes, but perhaps only for one reason, heading the cast, and the only big name in the cast, is vintage treat Brian Conley, and what a treat he is. To say that the success and failure of Cinderella rests on Conley's shoulders is no understatement, as other than his presence, and the admittedly lavish looks of the set and show in general, this production is nowhere near of the quality for such a big theatre.
The personalities of the rest of the cast are by the numbers sadly, with just a couple of exceptions. The Fairy Godmother played by Lucy Conley (daughter of Brian) is excellent. Her character, in a neat
This Wonderful Life twist, is known as Fairy 312 and much like Clarence in that film, is looking to gain her wings. Lucy Conley gives an excellent performance, is strong in personality, has a delightful singing voice and is captivating on stage, for a performer so young, her talent is strong. Cinderella is played with a lot of charm by Sarah Vaughn as well, and it gives one of the strongest performances in the show, especially in several lovely duets.
Elsewhere though, the performances and characters are a disappointment. James Darch's Prince Charming is rather one-dimensional, boring in fact, offering little personality to his performance. Owen Stringer's Dandina has little of the fun and enthusiasm you would expect from the role, and if anything, is played more like the prince than his manservant.
Cinderella's step-sisters, Tess and Claudia (yes, there is a loose
Strictly Come Dancing theme going on in the script) are sadly disappointing. Nowhere near as bold, brash and evil as you want, and while they have a mixture of the usual outlandish costumes, many of them are a disappointment as well. Sadly also, their repetitive "ain't we gorgeous", and "suit yourself" every time they arrive on stage is delivered in a boring monotone that quickly begins to grate. Finally, and very surprisingly, the cast of characters has dispersed on Baron Hardup altogether for seemingly no reason whatsoever, other than to maybe cut the cast numbers.
All of this negativity you could be mistaken for thinking this show is not going to come recommended. However, you would be wrong, as it is time to return to the star of the show, a certain Brian Conley. He is exceptionally good, back to his heydays that many of the older members, myself included, remember. Thankfully though, we only get four, rather incongruous exclamations of "it's a puppet", the rest of the material is golden and Conley delivers it superbly. When he looks out proudly at the audience's reaction to his advert jingles, he delivers to perfection a comment about his main fanbase statistically being dead in five years. It makes us feel old, but, we are relishing every moment before our impending demise.
Beyond the superb Brian Conley, the show itself looks gorgeous, with brilliant sets, costumes, some excellent set pieces and tricks and an amazing end to act one, made better for being, in my case, seated in the third row. The script has plenty of fun with the local area, including a superb Alexa joke. Some of the selections of tunes are good, some less so, and the opening Milton Keynes one is perhaps great simply because of how bizarre it is.
Cinderella is recommended despite much of the show being slightly disappointing. simply because Conley is on fire in this. Never have I seen someone dominate a panto in such a way, and he is, without any question at all, simply brilliant. Try to grab a ticket to the Milton Keynes ball if you can.
A lavish-looking panto with a tremendous, show-stealing performance by Brian Conley.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Performance reviewed: Tuesday 13th December 2022 at the Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes.
