You'll have a ball: our review of the Leamington Christmas Pantomime Cinderella

If you are a going to tell the story of the events surrounding probably the most famed fairytale party of them all via the medium of pantomime then music, song and dance must take centre stage above all else.

JP McCue, aka Dame Dolly and Leamington Christmas panto royalty, and his co-writer Janice Dunn have take the decision for this year’s production to scrap the regular slapstick segment in which lots of foam gets thrown around the stage - over the dame and the comedy sidekick and also a hapless handpicked male member of the audience - and replace this with more musical numbers.

Whatever the reason or reasons behind this – maybe purely artistic, maybe health and safety, maybe both – it is the right decision.

Making her Leamington panto debut as the titular main character, Soleil Quarless has a fantastic signing voice and she is backed up by Prince Charming Kyle Copeland’s fine balance of cheese and charm (like a high-end port and Stilton gift set).

This level of revelry is JP and his ever able and excellent right-hand man Sean Dodds’ (Buttons) bread and butter and it’s all enhanced by the welcome return of some fantastic young dancers from local companies.

A nice sprinkling of stage magic is thrown into proceedings with an awesome and spellbinding display of animatronics.

There’s so much fun, laughs and excitement in this year’s Leamington pantomime.

It’s a hell of a party and you’re all invited.

Just make sure you’ve got your tickets sorted.

For tickets and performance times visit https://www.imaginetheatre.co.uk/pantomime/2022-cinderella-leamington