Review: Cinderella at The Grange Theatre, Hartford

Dec 10 2009 Chester Chronicle

CINDERELLA/Grange Theatre, Hartford, Cheshire, until January 3

REVIEW/by Richard Knowles

WITH all the aplomb of David Beckham but without the star footballer’s screen idol good looks, Ugly Sister Lance Stuart, as Hernia Hardup, pulled off a trick that must rank as a first in the glorious history of panto trickery.

The roly-poly actor and cabaret performer - appearing in his first every panto, although you’d never believe it on this performance - stole the show not only with his brilliant comic timing and a singing range of Mariah Carey proportions, but with the most handsomely executed kick … of five strung-together toilet rolls straight into a spotlight box high above the stage.

It came midway through the Twelve Days of Christmas song – the loo rolls replacing the gold rings - and brought the house down.

After that, this Cinderella from Halle Productions, in the intimate surroundings of the Grange Theatre, just got better and better.

But Lance wasn’t alone in elevating this panto above those with much bigger budgets in the major cities.

His ‘Ugly’ sidekick Anthony Wren was a gangly delight, Casey-Lee Jolleys, who played the duplicitous Orchid in Coronation Street, was an altogether sweeter flower as a convincingly downtrodden Cinderella and West End star Marlon Moore, as Prince Charming, possessed just the right mixture of brooding rakishness and puppy-dog enthusiasm.

Cinderella runs until January 3. To book call the box office on 0845 241 7868 or visit cheshirepanto.com.