Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs - Bristol Hippodrome - What WE Say...

As soon as Snow White entered stage with a troupe of professional dancers, prancing around to ‘Boogie Wonderland’, I knew that we were in for a treat of massive proportions.

The pantomime set was ultra-impressive, blending in perfectly with the splendid Hippodrome, and the costumes, from start to finish, were worthy of such delightful surroundings.  Packed with hoards of excited school children, the theatre was buzzing with anticipation and the two three-year old in our smaller collective of four were energised.

The jokes came in thick and fast: the local Andy Ford (Royal Variety Show) was hugely amusing as Muddles, Jester to the Wicked Queen, offering the perfect touch of West to the East of those Enders, Joe Swash and Kara Tointon.   But the poor fool was in love with Snow White (Tointon) who, it’s true, loved Muddles back “like a brother,” a sentiment he found “disappointing, although in certain parts of Gloucester …”

Enter Prince Charming Lorenzo of Lombardi (Swash) ‘from the ancient land of Walfordia,’ loaded with EastEnders slang [Dot Cotton = rotten] and ‘I’m a Celebrity’ puns.  He asked for a cheer from the boys and girls and he got it.  He called for a cheer from the mums and dads and when I delivered eagerly, some thirty young heads turned to glare at me in surprise or maybe in alarm.

“Mummy, has Snow White finished?” My Girl asked about 25 minutes into the show.  She’d gobbled up her sweets and was becoming restless, which very soon passed with Muddles’ re-enactment of ‘Logical Nursery Rhymes’, a section so funny that I won’t spoil it.  Let’s just say that Incy Wincy Spider and Humpty Dumpty grabbed fully the attention of my young daughter, who repositioned the fairy doll she’d brought with her so that she was better able to enjoy the show too.  The Wicked Queen (West End’s Liz Robertson), deliciously naughty but not too scary, banished her step-daughter to the forest and we were treated to a well-choreographed version of ‘Thriller’ by a brilliant cast of woodland creatures.

A chorus of ‘Hi-Ho’ had us scanning the theatre and we looked round to see the Dwarves marching down the aisle, causing untold glee in all spectators and particularly in the younger ones.  Everyone on and off stage was happy as some of us got up to dance to a Sister Sledge number.

During the interval, our kids chased each other in the seating area and their mums acquiesced, knowing that they needed to burn up some of that energy if we were to reach the Final Curtain, which I’m pleased to say that we did effortlessly.

Snow White and The Seven Dwarves managed to be traditionally panto, whilst interjecting plenty of present-day cultural references from X Factor to Facebook, from the RSC to Girls Aloud.  The double-entendres were sublime and the local gags hilarious, many of which were delivered by the endearingly camp Muddles (‘Alright, my lover?’ and ‘Allo Babba.’), for me the Star of the Show. 

We wanted to hate him but secretly we loved Herman the Queen’s Henchman (Alexander Delamere). We even warmed to the Wicked Queen after her Beyonce interpretation.  The Magical Mirror on the Wall was a terrific effect and the cast’s final song and dance so alive in a stunning sparkly blue set that My Girl insisted, “We’re NOT leaving!”

On exiting the Hippodrome, the excitement did not diminish as snow fell upon this cold, wet December day. We remained lost in the Fairytale.  Anyone would.

Website: www.bristolhippodrome.org.uk