With Craig Revel Horwood taking on the persona of a glamorous dame the Ugly Sisters (Claudia and Tess) played by Catherine Morris and Leanne Jones are left filling the story line gaps.  They are good, but are given minimal stage time. 

With spectacular sets, a band of five and a sound design that is to be applauded for allowing us to hear every word of some complex lyrics in some of the songs, this panto offers almost everything you want from a festive outing to the theatre. 

So what is missing? The company is well supported by an ensemble of eight talented dancers but sadly the decision has been taken to put their accompanying vocals on backing track.  This has the advantage that the dances can maintain and impressive energy but has the disadvantage of a lack of vocal nuance.  At best the dancers are singing along – at worst barely mouthing the words.  Panto inspires many a young person to go to the theatre again and we would have hoped to have seen the singing performed at its best which – in our opinion – is live. Still for the majority this is probably not a huge problem.