Panto winner as crowds queue for 2011 show

DIRTY work afoot: Carabosse (Sue Devaney) means plenty of harm to the princess (Nicole Evans, right), but good fairy (Heledd Baskerville) has an idea to fix things...

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Sleeping beauty, Coliseum, Oldham
People were queuing at the box office door at 8.30am on Saturday to get their seats for next year’s Coliseum panto, “Dick Whittington”.

And it was a gesture of faith in the local show wholly justified by this year’s offering.

If they could bottle the sheer daftness of Fine Time Fontayne, Richard Fletcher and the glorious Sue Devaney and Co in “Sleeping Beauty”, the nation’s economic woes would be over in hours.

Not that they would go away; we just wouldn’t care about them any more.

After two years of refining things, director Kevin Shaw and writer Eric Potts have got this year’s script exactly right.

Fine Time Fontayne is a hugely likeable dame but possibly wouldn’t have as much fun if he was carrying the whole weight of the show; instead the laughs are spread and he’s very funny indeed.

Meanwhile Richard Fletcher once again proves the fans’ favourite loon as Larry, and Patrick Bridgman returns to give another understated comic gem of a performance as the King.

Above them all, Sue Devaney as the evil witch manages to scare the young (two children left, crying, after her first couple of lines); channel the most imperious voice and mannerisms of Julie Walters, display wonderful timing, insult the audience and manage to make us laugh. Not bad in her first couple of minutes...

But there isn’t a weak spot anywhere as the show bowls along. Returning cast members Linzi Matthews, Amy Rhiannon Worth and Nicole Evans are great in what could be filler-roles as the Queen, the Prince and Beauty anywhere else. And while Heledd Baskerville might be the worst twirler on any stage anywhere, she is mightily endearing as the good fairy.

And all the usual elements remain: Celia Perkins again goes slightly bonkers with the colours on both backgrounds and costumes (Fine Time has great nurse, tin-man and Lady Gaga-ish buffoonery); the music is a great mix of current and classic pop, prodded along by MD David Bintley and the band; the choreography doesn’t outstay its welcome and there is even a charming storybook, the text projected magically on to it at key moments.

I might not echo Fine Time’s claim in the Chron last week that this is the best panto in the country, but it must come darned close...