Panto season has hit Dartford and this years offering is Sleeping Beauty at Orchard West. In this panto journey we meet Fairy Christmas (Britain’s Got Talent Winner Sydnie Christmas) who using all of her powers to protect Sleeping Beauty (Lucy May Pollard) and her sister Fairy Carabosse (Larissa Alexandrovnia) who places the famous curse on her. In this story Sleeping Beauty has already met her one true love, Prince Galileo (Cleve September) but rather than his kiss breaking the curse it has to happen 100 years from when she falls asleep, cue time travelling and even more magic.

This pantomime is perfect for families looking for all of the traditional elements. You had good v evil, the comedy act, or in this case acts with Josh the Jester played by Christian Lee as well as father and son double act Keith and Ben Simmons playing King Prawn and Lord Chamberlain as well as plenty of dancing, glittery sets and audience interaction.

The highlight of this production is the musical numbers with 2 talented singers at the helm. Sydnie Christmas delighted the audience with her famous vocals including renditions of ‘Tomorrow’ and ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow,’ leaving the audience in no doubt as to why she was awarded a golden buzzer. Her sister Larissa Alexandrovnia also got her chance to shine and her rendition of Eurovision favourite ‘Rise Like A Phoenix was an Act 2 highlight. Christmas and Alexandrovnia has the good and fairy act down to an art form with the former ensuring the audience warmed to her quickly and the latter with a commanding performance revelling in the boo’s every time she appeared on stage.

Pollard and September were sweet and likeable as Sleeping Beauty and her prince and captured a youthful feel to their blossoming romance. The comedy delivered by Lee and Keith & Ben Simmons’ was at times lacking in originality but with panto sometimes the well worn jokes are the best ones. I did however enjoy the time travel segment in the portaloo and all of the toilet humour that went along with it.

The set was a delight with sparkle and shimmer galore. The addition of a dragon in act 2 was a welcome surprise and really gave the show another ‘wow’ moment and 2 additional set pieces that flanked the side of the stage for the fairies to appear was a lovely touch. The lighting design by Will West also helps immerse the audience into the show with the stage itself not only being a focal point but coloured bulbs strung throughout the auditorium fit in well with pivotal moments of the production. At times the sound let the production down with sloppy mic pic ups meaning that we often lost the beginning of phrases, mics left on when individuals were offstage or misfired sound cues.

Whilst Sleeping Beauty was the choice of the pantomime this year the team at the Orchard West have far from slept on this and have produced another family favourite pantomime sprinkled liberally with fairy dust.

Sleeping Beauty is on at The Orchard Theatre West until 5th January. You can find out more and book tickets here.

If you like this review you might like my review of Beauty and The Beast at Marlowe Theatre, Deck The Stalls at Riverside Theatre and Jack and The Beanstalk What A Whopper.