Review: This is what Harrogate Theatre panto is like this year as Aladdin premieres

The magic of Christmas is alive and well on the stage of Harrogate Theatre.

After attending the opening show of Aladdin in a packed audience of schools from across the district this morning, I can report this year's Harrogate panto is a slam-dunk success or, in the spirit of this oriental-flavoured feast of festive fun, a ping pong smash hit.

The reaction of four hundred cheering, clapping, laughing, noisy youngsters from across the Harrogate district inside the packed auditorium of this lovely building to this homegrown production said it all.

Harrogate Theatre has done it again!

Cast and crew may still miss Phil Lowe, a lynchpin of this essential part of Harrogate’s festive season for so many years who sadly passed away just over a year ago.

But this year’s family-friendly production more than lives up to the intelligent but fun-packed high standards Phil helped set at Harrogate Theatre as both co-writer and director for the best part of 20 years.

The undoubted stars are – as ever – the very silly dream team of Tim Stedman and Howard Chadwick in the roles of Wishee Washee and Widow Twankey.

Emerging from the theatre’s bowels in a wisp of smoke at the start of the show, Tim delivers his usual comic magic, talent for ensemble playing and natural flair for crowd interaction all the way to curtain’s fall.

There can be no Laurel without Hardy, however, and the flamboyant Howard matches him for laughs, especially in the hilarious set-piece involving Wishee Washee’s laundrette and a lot of soap suds.

Also making a great impression as the romantic core of Aladdin are two Harrogate panto favourites – Christina Harris as a likably modern Princess So-Shy and Colin Kiyani bringing his trademark style and charm to Aladdin.

It has to be added that the whole cast excels in each and every role; though mention must be made of Michael Lambourne, delightfully powerful in the role of the evil Abbanazar, not only stealing Aladdin’s magic lamp but coming as close as the panto villain can ever come to stealing the entire show.

It’s also a nice touch when Lambourne changes from his Ming the Merciless look (from those old classic Flash Gordon movies) to a diehard rocker in black T-shirt, belting out Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood and the Destroyers in an unspoken tribute to Phil Lowe, who’d been a real rock fan.

Boasting, as always stunning sets and props, brilliant dance choreography and a superb mix of songs, Aladdin is also the vastly experienced Marcus Romer’s first stint as director of the Harrogate panto.

Boy does he do a great job of it.

It’s not easy to point to a single secret for the enduring appeal of the Harrogate panto, though there’s always a huge amount of hard work and thought on show.

The richly textured script, helmed this time almost on his own by the theatre’s chief executive David Bown, is clearly a key element - good-natured intelligence wrapped up in the glory of daftness.

The cultural references, old and new, local and national, are perfectly integrated into Aladdin’s traditional storyline, in this case the cost of living crisis, healthy eating, Matt Hancock, ABBA, BBC’s Line of Duty and Dragon’s Den, the royal family, Dick Emery, Bettys, Weetons, Harrogate Town FC and Laurel and Hardy.

I suppose at the heart of Harrogate panto lies a love of being creative and inventive and an unshakably positive spirit, a character trait which runs through the theatre year after year from top to bottom even on the bleakest day.

Two scenes show this off best: Colin Kiyani as Aladdin implausibly but wonderfully riding the magic carpet into the air and the climatic ping pong match between good and evil in the shape of Christina Harris’s Princess So-Shy and Michael Lambourne’s Abbanazar – with key shots apparently happening before your eyes in ultra slow motion.

You know it isn’t real. You know it can’t be possible.

But, like Harrogate panto and Christmas itself, you believe in it.

Aladdin runs at Harrogate Theatre until Sunday, January 15, 2023.

Tickets from www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk