Apologises on the delay with the review of this year’s Panto in the Grand Opera House. Absolutely no reflection on the production which is off to a snappy start but I ended up with a bad case of the flu and I didn’t want to write this in a flu induced haze as there are so many amazing elements to this year’s production that I wanted to do justice to. I wanted to describe the show with excitement and enthuasiusm.
Peter Pan at the Grand Opera House Belfast is charming with a lot of local influence and some fabulous West End theatrics and darlings. Peter Pan flies on stage and into our hearts accompanied by lots of up beat modern pop songs including Ed Sheeran and Clean Bandit.The audience are laughing in the aisles, screaming and shouting the traditional Panto lines and are left wide eyed at the special effects especially this year’s added bonus a 3D adventure through the sea.
Star of the show for me had to be Captain Hook, Musical stage star David Badella. Badella certainly put his own spin on the character earning a reaction of buckets full of Boos and some of the biggest applause on the night as he did things his own way. Look out for Bedellas perfectly timed solo at the end of the performance.
It would be wrong just to single out Bedella as their are so many talented performers in this production our own local superstar May McFetridge is back as the Panto Queen with her right hand shipmate Paddy Jenkins in tow. The poor front row audience got whipped into shape by Mays legendary tongue and quick fired wit and as always the duo had us all in stitches with a bit of a singalong.
Mikey Jay Heath is a fantastic Pan soaring through the auditorium with a cheeky grin. He is joined on stage by not one but four feisty females, the ultimate girl group; Tinkerbell, Tiger Lily, Wendy and Mimi the mermaid (Claire King from Emmerdale and Coronation Street) The ladies put there differences and roller boots aside (well done Hollie O Donoghue for staying upright throughout) to help defeat Hook and save the lost boys.
Speaking of Lost Boys the younger performers from the McMaster Stage School shine in their roles. Break dancing and entertaining throughout.
Peter Pan at the Grand Opera House is the classic tale with lots of song,dance and modern gadgets. It should be a crowd pleaser for all ages with crocodiles,fairies and little breakdancing kids. I highly recommend it for a Christmas night out before the end of the run.
Emer D xx
Peter Pan runs until January 14th at the Grand Opera House in Belfast tickets available at http://www.goh.co.uk.
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