Review: Aladdin – Ipswich Regent
Last year if we had had a magic lantern one of our wishes would have been to ask our genie to allow panto for Christmas, and in fact this year our wish has been granted!
Panto makes a welcome return to the Ipswich Regent thanks to Enchanted Entertainment who bring us Aladdin, allowing us to escape for a couple of hours of musical and comedic family fun.
Packed with great songs (and reworkings of some others), plus amazing dance routines and plenty of laughter, this is a tremendous treat for all the family you won’t want to miss.
This year’s cast includes Home and Away actor Nic Westaway as Aladdin, X-Factor star Marcus Collins as Genie (a truly fantastic voice!) and Selena Brown making her professional debut as Princess Jasmine.
Comedian and Ipswich panto favourite Mike Mclean makes a welcome return as Wishee Washee. Supporting cast include Emily Galvin as Spirit of the Ring, Darren Machin as Widow Twankey, Andrew Goddard as Abanazar who has to be the BEST panto villain I’ve seen this panto season and Glyn Dilley as the Emperor.
All the usual elements are included with plenty of “oh no you’re not” moments as well as loads of opportunities to boo and hiss and of course cheer too. Great to see the Regent’s rendition of the 12 days of Christmas included, always great fun.
The past couple of years have been terrible for performers, theatres and their staff and it’s amazing that they have even survived. Here in Ipswich we are blessed with so many great venues and theatrical companies and therefore if you give one present this year, it should be to support at least one of them.
Aladdin will be running from Friday, December 17th to Sunday, January 2nd, missing Christmas and New Years Day.
Performance times vary across the run so see the theatre’s website at ipswichtheatres.co.uk
• Review, Mark Keable – Ipswich24 Magazine