Smee’s the star of... Peter Pan

PETER PAN, Opera House, Manchester

Hang on, what’s this? Since when has Peter Pan’s opening nursery scene done away with the “lost shadow” routine and instead found a new character, Smithers the chauffeur?

Only Eric Potts — yes, our Eric Potts — the show’s writer can answer the first question. The latter, presumably, happened when Gary Wilmot was hired to play Smee and veteran musicals and comedy director Bob Tomson needed a way to introduce him early in the evening...

Such is life for a classic story commandeered for panto, and for a while during the opening half hour, despite the large sets, clever projected animations and huge scale, it looked like Peter might have been panned in the search for Christmas family fun.

But it hardly matters. “Peter Pan” is one of those wet Edwardian stories that might well have thrilled people once, but is now rather old hat. So why not pep it up a bit with panto style, modern business and pop culture references — not to mention one of the funniest comic song routines, by Wilmot and the pirates, I’ve seen in 50 years of panto-going?

Not that this isn’t a slightly unbalanced evening: look at the posters and it seems the stars are John Thomson and Bury’s former Hollyoaks star Gemma Atkinson.

In fact, both these panto first-timers are put decisively in the shade every time the supremely relaxed, confident Wilmot is on stage. The true star of the show drives each scene forwards, engages the audience — all ages — instantly with a coy-romantic gesture that remains funny every time he repeats it, and generally keeps the whole evening running. It’s a masterful lesson in stagecraft and good humour.

Thomson, luckily, gets better as the show ages. Early hesitation — he clearly doesn’t know all the words to one of his songs — and a slightly camp style settle into a sort of “thespian-and-slumming-it” act that reminded me of Kenneth Branagh in the movie “Wild Wild West”. Perhaps it’s the moustache.

Atkinson, bless her, is out of her depth. She can’t sing very well, is a bit wooden and doesn’t even look happy flying.

Luckily, the Darling children (led by Jen Pringle as Wendy), the Lost Boys, pirates such as Manchester DJ Mike Toolan and the remarkably popular Strike dancing kung fu pair from “Britain’s Got Talent”, spread the load admirably. Go for the scale, love it for Wilmot.