Review of Aladdin at Norwich’s Theatre Royal: Magical and hilarious panto was perhaps the most Norfolk one I’ve ever seen

It’s panto season and perhaps the most Norfolk version of them all is currently playing at Norwich’s Theatre Royal.

It’s become a bit of a Christmas tradition for my niece Alyssa and I to travel to the city to watch its festive offering and we always know that we can rely on the team there to put on a fantastically funny and enjoyable pantomime.

This year, it’s Aladdin which is entertaining people of all ages at the Theatre Royal. The story centres around the titular character (Tarik Frimpong), his love interest Jazz (Meesha Turner), her villainous aunt Prof Bellatrix Bottomburgh (Lisa Maxwell), and Aladdin’s mum Widow Molly Piecrust (Owen Evans) and brother Reg Piecrust (Joe Tracini).

Prof Bottomburgh is hoping to find a descendant of the guardians of Grim to help her access the cave where a magical lamp has been hidden - in a bid to become all-powerful.

Her mission takes her to ‘Norwich on the Verge’ where she encounters Molly Piecrust and her family, who supposedly serve the best pies in town from their shop.

But what happens when Prof Bottomburgh finds Aladdin and forces him to enter the cave? And will she stop Aladdin and Jazz from finding true love with one another?

With a good mixture of old classics such as Europe’s The Final Countdown and Pink’s So What and newer tracks including Lil Boo Thang by Paul Russell, some of the panto’s highlights centred around the big, bright and colourful song and dance numbers.

The many talents of the whole team were clear - the ensemble performed some brilliant choreography in perfect time and the musicians worked through each number - which were really varied - with finesse.

Both Alyssa and I were very pleased to see that Tracini was back for his fifth year as the comedy sidekick, so we knew we were in good hands.

He was hilarious as Reg and was as usual one of the highlights of the show.

Tracini has a natural ability to light up the stage and get the audience in the palm of his hands.

Alyssa and I were talking about his ‘donkey’ tongue-twister and a segment centring around what the cast would do if they weren’t working at the Piecrust shop, which had the whole audience in stitches, long after we had left.

Frimpong and Turner were both charismatic leads with beautiful voices, and their magic carpet ride left me scratching my head as to how it was achieved.

Meanwhile, Maxwell - of The Bill fame - was as brilliant as the villain with another lovely singing voice.

And you would never have known that it was Owen Evans’ - one half of the Norfolk Nimmo Twins - first panto.

His extra-Norfolk panto dame was perfectly camp and hilarious, with some of the most extravagant costumes of the night!

Special mention has to go to the one and only Delia Smith, who was the voice of the ‘Great Spirit of Norwich’ and had a familiar line or two for the adults to enjoy!

These touches made it one of the most Norfolk pantos I’ve ever seen which we were right happy about!

It would be remiss of me not to mention the colourful and impressive sets, and to congratulate writer Richard Gauntlett (a previous Norwich Theatre Royal dame), director Chris Cuming, choreographer and associate director Amy Lawrence and musical director James Beal for a wonderful show.

Alyssa and I left the venue grinning from ear to ear, having enjoyed a couple of hours of festive fun thanks to everyone involved in the show.

If you’re looking for a magical evening of fantastic Christmas entertainment, you’ll certainly find it in Norwich Theatre Royal’s Aladdin.

Aladdin runs until January 5.