Review by Valerie Carter

Everyone knows the story of “Aladdin”. If you want to see the best pantomine Dame in the business get yourself to the Churchill theatre while you have the chance to see Christopher Biggins as Widow Twankey. He was great and had a wonderful rapport with the children who were chosen to go up on stage. His costumes are truly amazing.

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All the costumes throughout the production were wonderful. I was very impressed with a young man called Max Fulham who played “Washee”. He is a very accomplished ventriloquist. – A star in the making. His brother “Wishee” was played by Rikki Jay who worked very hard to keep it all together.”Aladdin” was played by Yazdan Qafouri who was one of the young men chosen in the TV show “Let it Shine” to star in the “Take That” musical “The Band.” This is his first foray into panto. – He shone! (Sorry couldn’t resist that). Ryan O’Gorman as “Abanazar” was greeted with “boos” at his every appearance. He is a fine singer and seemed to relish playing the baddie. The others were Emily Beth Harrington as the genie of the ring – “Scheherzade”, Emily Hawgood as “Princess Jasmine” and Derek Elroy as “Emperor Ming”.

The rest of the ensemble were great too. I’d also like to mention the little girls (some very little indeed) from the Laura Bruce Dance Academy who completed the cast. There were some very good special effects, particularly the magic carpet. So, if you are contemplating a panto visit this year, get to the Churchill theatre Bromley. You won’t regret it.

Aladdin is on until 5 January 2020 https://churchilltheatre.co.uk/Online/bromley-pantomime-panto-kent