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SUPPLIED
Widow Twankey (Grayson Richards), Nobby the panda (Anastazja Kowal) and Princess Jasmine (Louisa Bouzaid) lead a dance.
REVIEW: Hopefully it won’t be another 20 years before Hāwera Repertory stages another pantomime, as the current show, Aladdin, is so good.
Those on stage looked to be having as much fun as the audience at the Sunday matinée, an appreciative crowd of parents and grandparents with a lot of youngsters, enjoying some respite from a wintry day.
It took just a little urging from wicked Abanazar (Ben Thomas) and Wishee Washee (Ryan Kooistra), who was chasing naughty panda Nobby (Anastazja Kowal), to get excited children loudly booing and shouting as the traditional story of Aladdin, the washer woman’s son who finds a magic lamp and gets to marry a princess, played out with song and hilarity aplenty.
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Aladdin (Georgie Graham) gets a new outfit and a new fortune from Genie of the Lamp Kristy Logan.
Georgie Graham was a lively and likeable Aladdin, who won the hand of the martial arts expert princess Jasmine (Louisa Bouzaid), after a convoluted adventure.
At one point, when the evil Abanazar slammed the door to the magic cave shut, trapping Aladdin inside, one youngster shouted loudly: “Get an axe!”
The entire production was very well done, from the acting to the costumes (Widow Twankey’s mother-of-the-bride outfit was particularly memorable), a colourful set, entertaining dancing and singing, with music from a live band.
All of the cast were great, but Grayson Richards as Widow Twankey really stole the show, in his first role as a dame, with innuendo-laden jokes galore, and a rowdy Dame Edna-style presence.
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PC Pong (Cody Ogle) and Sergeant Ping (Brenna Johnson) apologise to the Empress (Chrys Podjursky) during a hunt for Aladdin.
I also particularly enjoyed Ben Thomas’ satisfyingly wicked wizard Abanazar, and Chrys Podjursky as the Empress who transforms from Aladdin’s would-be executioner to his mother-in-law by the happy ending.
With a production this polished, one could imagine a much bigger organisation being involved in staging it.
All the people who have been working behind the scenes to make it happen deserve a mention along with those on stage.
It got the traditional panto mix of story, song and silliness just right.
And the audience obviously approved, with a large crowd of children up and dancing from their seats and in front of the stage as the cast performed their final number.
The show, Hawera Repertory’s first panto in two decades, will be performed at Hāwera’s Memorial Theatre until July 15.
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