London.
BEWITCHMENT – ON BLACK ICE
Devised by Nicky Scott script by Tom Whalley.

Landor Theatre
70 Landor Road, London SW9 9PH to 9 January 2016.
Mon – Sat 7.30pm. Mat Sat & Sun 3pm. 1 January 7pm.
Adult late performances 8pm 27, 28, 29, 30 December & 9 pm 1 January.
Runs 1h 30 mins One interval

TICKETS: 020 7737 7276.
www.landortheatre.co.uk
Review: William Russell.

Absolutely fabulous and delightfully awful.
Just when you think you have seen everything it is possible to do in a room above a pub along comes Robert McWhir’s deft and daft production of an ice skating show. It is a pantomime of a sort about a Queen called Malevolent who has gone to the bad and three princes who become involved in the search for bits of a broken mirror which when put together will turn her back into some one nice. Then she will marry Rumplestiltskin.

All right, forget the plot.

The script is dreadful, the jokes have whiskers longer than the amazing fright wig sported by Malevolent, and it is all done to a recorded score rather too full of echoes for comfort – some of the dialogue is also recorded.

But sometimes a show comes along which has to be seen to believed – and ultimately enjoyed. This is such a show. The three princes are splendid whether cavorting as go go boys in gold lame hot pants, or pursuing Snow White, Cinderella and Belle with ardour and suffering all sorts of adventures along the way.

Paulette Smart goes around being nasty as Malevolent amid lots of cackles and thunderous noises while Jeff Raggett as Rumplestiltskin comments on the action with some aplomb and hits some amazing high notes in his big number.

There is an underwater sequence with two amazing fish, some quite nice skating given the limitations of the stage, and by the end of the evening it is all gliding along quite merrily. There is a nice moment after Malevolent has bewitched Prince Deluded when the other two and the three heroines are working out how to save him. It requires the kiss of one true love. The heroines’ kisses do not work, but the one bestowed by Alluring does. Nicholas Chiappetta (Deluded), Ryan Forde Iosco (Charming) and Chris Cauduro (Alluring) are hugely entertaining and Ruth Petersen, Chantelle Acourt and Tara Smart whirl and twirl prettily as the heroines.

At the end when Deluded, with a little help from Alluring, and backed by the rest of the cast performs Up Town Funk this distinctly rickety affair is home and dry – and nobody fell over.

Malevolent: Paulette Smart.
Rumplestiltsking: Jeff Raggett.
Prince Deluded: Nicholas Chiapetta.
Prince Alluring: Chris Cauduro.
Cinderella: Tara Smart.
Belle: Ruth Petersen.
Snow White: Chantelle A’Court.

Voices – Jeff Raggett, Emily Lynne, Sinead Wall, Lucinda Withers, Joshua Leclair & Tom Whalley.

Director: Robert McWhir.
Choreographer: Nicky Scott,
Musical Supervisor: Inga Davis-Rutter.
Costumes: Nina Morley.
Video Design & Projection: Max Spielbichler.

2015-12-18 09:58:19