I love Aladdin

As cartoon characters go, Aladdin has to be up there near the top of the hunk lists, right?

Perhaps just me then.

Tall, dark and mysterious with his own flying carpet. What more could any girl need? He even has a monkey who can make tea. Win!

Aladdin has always been one of my favourite tales and it was probably the Disney film that first sparked a need to travel. I love the market scenes and the crazy hustle and bustle of the Arabian city. The rags to riches story has a great moral showing the importance of being yourself, telling the truth, and keeping your promise.

Our annual family trip to Worthing Theatres Christmas Pantomime did not disappoint. Although we’ve all been full of cold and bugs we headed to Aladdin last night for a dose of Arabian sunshine.

The Paul Holman Associates production is headlined by Lee Latchford-Evans of STEPS as Aladdin. My first thoughts were of course ‘how could he possibly meet my high expectations of the animated hunk I’d always known and loved, but he did not disappoint.

Aladdin was joined by CBeebies presenter Rebecca Keatley as Princess Jasmine along with award-winning comedian Vikki Stone as the evil (but very funny) Abanazar. Completing the line-up was comic Mark Jones as Wishee Washee and Brighton cabaret star Dave Lynn as Widow Twankey. Both hilarious and worth the ticket price alone but the star of the show for us had to be the vertically challenged rhyming wordsmith Abanazar.

The magical Genie of the Lamp was a spectacular 12-foot puppet voiced, in pre-recorded footage, by one of the most recognisable voices in the UK. The unmistakable booming sound of the legendary Brian Blessed voiced the 12-foot magic Genie of the Lamp and reminded me, I really must introduce the kids to the world of Flash Gordon.

What Daisy thought:

I really liked the dancers and so wanted to be on stage. The music was great and everyone was singing along. They sang The Greatest Showman plus some stuff I didn’t know but all the mums did. My favourite character was Widow Twanky because he was really funny. The best bit was when the little kids from the audience went up and the little boy had his trousers undone and everyone was laughing because the actor didn’t know what to do!

What Hunny thought:

I loved it and think Wishy Washy was so funny. The best bit was at the end when Aladdin and Jasmine got married and everyone was in jazzy costumes. We got the dress up after in the photo booth too which was really fun.

The production runs at the Pavilion Theatre, Worthing every day until 1st Jan 2019.  Tickets are on sale now via www.worthingtheatres.co.uk or at the Box Office on 01903 206 206.

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