After the untimely death of Brian Ralfe last year, Lee Tracey and the cast of Alice in Pantoland return to the Studio Theatre at the Dome to continue the tradition of outrageous adult entertainment championed by Brian since 2002.
Written by Lee Tracey and David Rumelle, Alice in Pantoland is a chaotic romp by Alice through a variety of the best loved traditional pantos including Jack and the Beanstalk, Dick Wittington, Cinderella and Peter Pan, and provides each performer with a moment to shine.
Lee Tracey is the focus of the show, playing both Sarah the Cook and the Ugly Sister ‘Hernia’. Lee was one of London’s most successful stand up comics in the 70s, 80s and 90s and gives an old school performance full of outrageous and most of the time offensive expletives that some will love, while some might feel uncomfortable with. The audience on the night I went were mainly straight women, all benefitting from a few drinks, and they clearly loved the patter.
Cabaret performer Topsie Redfern almost steals the show playing three parts in all; Alice, the Fairy Godmother and The Ugly Sister ‘Verruca’. Topsie has a fantastic voice and his characterisations of all three is spot on as is his vocal performance. A live wire performer who would really benefit from having more numbers to sing.
David Raven graced the stage as Idle Jack in the first half and an old pussy in the second. The audience loved his old pussy number which was one of the highlights of the evening.
Lascal Wood as Devil plays the baddie, but I found it hard to hiss or boo him as he was so lovely. A former X Factor finalist and star of the West End Show Thriller the Musical, where he played Michael Jackson, Lascal has a beautiful voice especially in the high register and is a sharp mover. It would be great to see him given more freedom to do both as we were only treated to a few snatches of his dancing ability during the evening. Lascal is a very accomplished performer.
Russell Keith strikes a confident and endearing Prince Charming. Another great vocalist and a natural charmer. He lights up the stage each time he appears and the audience really warm to him.
Jack Seager plays Tinkerballs and The White Rabbit. A great singer and mover, but sadly some of his patter was lost on a noisy audience who at times made more noise than the performers on the stage.
Scott Virgo is a stalwart of these adult pantos and played a strutting dandy Dick and after all as he reminded us “we all need a bit of dick sometimes”. Moving quickly on…….
Jason Prince revelled in the role of the camp, gushing Will Scarlet as only Jason can with his gin and tonic voice, turning suitably nasty and evil for his later appearance as Captain Hook.
Finally, Pooh La May aka Collin Day played The Empress of China for sympathy spending most of the evening begging to be given the opportunity to sing. When the moment arrived he did not disappoint.
If you are an adult panto virgin don’t go along expecting spectacular sets and production values. It is not that kind of show. The set is bare most of the time and the production stands or falls on the quality of the performances. This years production was packed with fantastic singers and I personally would have loved to have heard much more singing from them all.
Finally hats off to Jamie Lees the musical director who works with backing tracks and plays live from his keyboard producing a colourful and effective musical accompaniment to the show.
Alice in Pantoland runs till February 7.
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