A little look at The Little Mermaid
Water pistols, big dance numbers, a very fishy Joe McElderry and some massive tentacles. Sam Wonfor reports back from a morning spent behind the pantoland curtain
Christmas is a time when families come back together… and that perfectly describes the annual gathering of the Theatre Royal pantomime’s cast and crew.
It’s no accidurrrrrnt (IYKYK…which means If You Know, You Know - for those that didn’t know) that the Newcastle venue’s annual panto is one of the fastest and biggest selling in the UK.
Over the past two decades, father-and-son duo Danny Adams and Clive Webb have slapped, slipped and squirted themselves into the festive traditions of tens of thousands of people in North East.
They’ll celebrate their 20th Theatre Royal panto anniversary next year alongside Wallsend-born writer/director - and now big theatre-making cheese - Michael Harrison.
A couple of weeks ago, it was confirmed that Aladdin will be the vehicle for their crowd-pleasing brand of on-stage mayhem in 2025.
But first, there’s a seven-week run of this year’s show - a panto-telling of The Little Mermaid - to crack on with.
Michael, who is currently splitting his time between rehearsals at the London Palladium (Robin Hood), Birmingham Hippodrome (Peter Pan) and his native Theatre Royal, was presiding over the run through, which a few of us were invited to sit in on earlier this week.
Very much not a dress rehearsal - save for the footwear (presumably the impressive array of pirate-style boots on display need a lot of wearing in) - everyone was sensibly embracing rehearsal chic.*
*Longtime Dame favourite - but this year’s under-the-sea baddie - Chris Hayward did sport a glittering skirt of giant tentacles for the opening number to offer a sprinkling of panto razzle dazzle to proceedings while his conniving sidekicks Christina Berriman Dawson and Kylie Ann Ford wore their sequin-dipped headgear, signalling the switch into dastardly mode.
I’ve seen enough Theatre Royal pantos to know that surprises are very much part of the relentless fun… so there will be no spoilers here (although the story does take place entirely underwater, so I’ll leave it up to the front row whether they bring their anoraks).
What I can tell you is that the irrepressible silliness, which delights sell-out audience after sell-out audience, is as infectious as ever. Even at 10am in the morning.
And while the aforementioned double act of Clive and Danny remains an undoubted mainstay of proceedings (the slapstick set pieces will not disappoint), the partnership between Danny and South Shields singer and performer, Joe McElderry continues to flourish.
This year will be Joe’s fourth consecutive Christmas-time turn at the venue and it’s easy to see why he was immediately adopted into the festive fold after making his 2021 debut in Snow White as the Man In The Mirror… he and Danny have a great chemistry, which spills off the stage.
It’s clear the cast regulars - the aforementioned Chris, Christina and Kylie are joined by Wayne Smith who returns as Ariel’s dad King Triton and Danny’s brother Mick Potts (aka walk-on laugh-making machine) - enjoy coming back together and making the most of the shorthand, which comes with familiarity.
This year there are a couple of newcomers in Maggie Lynne as Ariel and Christian Maynard as Prince Eric… and it looks like they’ve fitted right in if a set-piece scene involving Danny trying to thwart their first kiss is anything to go by.
Seeing the troupe of dancers doing their thing in such close quarters was also quite something… as was being within danger range of the chaotic 12 Days of Christmas routine, which never fails to delight.
As midday approached and the cast took their final bow, we were left in no doubt that - as well as a variety of nippers and flippers - they’ve also got another big hit on their hands.
The Little Mermaid opens at Newcastle Theatre Royal on November 26 and runs to January 12. Visit the website for tickets.