Last night

Esther, William and I were invited to The Marlowe Theatre

In Canterbury

To be among the first to see this year’s pantomime

Cinderella

Oh my goodness me!

It was amazing

From the moment we entered the auditorium

The atmosphere was electric

The whole place was buzzing

Everyone was so excited to be there

As the lights went down

Before the curtain came up

The aisles were filled with dancers

Getting the audience to clap along

To a fabulous instrumental song

Ensuring we were all whipped up into a frenzy

Ready to meet the Fairy Godmother with rapturous applause

From those first magical moments

The WOW moments just kept on coming

Starting with one of my personal highlights

Mister Maker doing Robbie William’s

Let Me Entertain You

Right before my eyes

I was super impressed with Phil Gallagher throughout the whole show actually

He made us laugh and cry real tears with his wonderful portrayal of Buttons

He really was incredibly good and Esther, William and I loved interacting with him

And all the fantastic actors in the show

The pantomime was high energy and fast paced

Filled to bursting with slapstick humour and jokes

We LOVED The Ugly Sisters

They were the baddies

Brilliant baddies

With awesome comic timing

A wonderful way with words

And a lovely warmth about them

Even though they were the baddies

Their costumes were truly fabulous

And their antics made us laugh so much

You have to love these two panto gems

It’s the law!

Aren’t they brilliant?

Me me me me me me me!!

Cinderella was a strong character in this version of the story

The song choices for the female lead were perfect

Esther’s highlight was Cinders and the ensemble singing This is Me

From The Greatest Showman

Cinderella was played with guts and gusto

A magical singing voice and awesome dance moves

Esther also loved 8 year old Muriel

This little girl was showing young performers how to own a stage

And totally steal the show

Esther kept saying to me, ‘Mummy, I want to be that girl’.

She was hugely talented and supremely confident

We think she will go far!

The first half of the pantomime ended with Cinderella

Changing from her rags to golden gown

Which Esther told me made her look like Belle rather than Cinderella

The dress was soon outshone though

By two of the cutest miniature white ponies we have ever seen

Pulling a real life princess carriage

Ready to take Cinderella to the ball

Amid a beautiful snow storm

That fell upon us all as the act came to an end

It was truly magical

The stuff of fairy tales!

The second act saw many of us being taken back to a misspent youth

And dancing along to Will Smith’s

Boom! Shake The Room

I sang my heart out

Waved my arms in the air

I did not care

It was a real highlight of the show for me

Harry Reid was awesome

And so was 8 year old Muriel ad her rapping!

Once again Esther was tugging on my arm

And saying ‘Mummy Mummy, I want to be that girl!’

During the interval I had soothed a heartbroken William

He and I both cried a lot when Cinderella rejected Buttons

And while I recovered from the emotional ordeal

William could not get past it

He was so so so sad for Buttons

He was just about alright again

When Buttons tried again with his beloved Cinders

And was once again told that he was only to be her friend

A brilliant reel of ‘what might have been’ film showed

Buttons and Cinders marry and have a baby

And this set poor William off again

Phil Gallagher was totally on point with his portrayal of Buttons

A perfect balance to the fast pace fun in the rest of the show

His emotional moments were superb

William and I LOVED the ballroom scene

And all the old school dancing

What fun to have been part of that scene!

Harry Reid was excellent as Dandini and all the cast obviously have a great rapport

They clearly LOVE what they do as much as we love watching them

And feeling a part of something incredibly special

The whole show from start to finish was truly magical

Every person on the stage was outstanding

And the snow was a wonderful surprise!

What a night!

We were invited along to watch the show as part of press night

But were under no obligation to say anything about the show

All heartfelt love for the show is genuine and if you have chance to go and see Cinderella

At Canterbury’s The Marlowe Theatre

Then please please do.

It is brilliant!

I cannot put into words just how much we loved the show

I wish you could have seen my children’s faces

Their laughter

Their tears

How loud they shouted for Buttons

How they joined in at every possible opportunity

We all did

It was the most wonderful experience and so much fun

What did you see? Cinderella

Was it good? Yes

You’re sure it wasn’t bad? Yes

…

We’ll have to see it again then won’t we?

We were given three press tickets for the show