It’s Christmas at the New Theatre again, and there’s nothing more festive than a pantomime. After nearly two years of not being able to boo or hiss (except at our elected representatives), pantomime is finally back – and you can’t get better than Aladdin, which graces the Cardiff stage this month. Produced by Crossroads Live, the world’s biggest pantomime producer, Aladdin has honed a recipe for the perfect panto: a dashing hero, a charming princess, a nefarious villain, and more ‘Oh no it isn’t’s than you can shake a stick at.

Though my latent love of panto has only recently been reawakened, I do have very fond memories of the Aladdin that ITV used to re-run every Christmas in the early 00s (the one featuring a knock-out performance by S Club 7). And this new version is even better, with Alan McHugh’s script and The Twins FX bringing the story and effects right up to date while retaining that rambunctious sense of classic family fun. Directed by Matt Slack, the story is set in ‘the mystical Empire of Caerdydd’ and follows Aladdin (Gareth Gates) and Princess Jasmine (Denquar Chupak), who want to get married against the wishes of Jasmine’s mother, the Empress (Lorraine Brown). Unbeknownst to him, Aladdin is the Chosen One, the only person who can retrieve the Magic Lamp from the Cave of Wonders – and an evil sorcerer, Abanazar (Stefan Pejic), plots to use him to steal the Lamp and rule the universe.

Now a star of musical theatre including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Les Miserables and Legally Blonde, Gareth Gates first stepped into the spotlight during the first series of Pop Idol, and has never looked back. Gates and Chupak make a perfect fairytale couple, and lay claim to some of the show’s poppiest highlights, featuring songs like High Hopes, Permission to Dance, Dynamite and a gorgeous rendition of Unchained Melody (Gates’ first number one single, and one which he sings even more beautifully now – and that’s really saying something). It’s also wonderful to see that this Princess Jasmine is more than capable of saving herself.

The show’s main purveyors of unhinged hilarity are legendary entertainer Paul Chuckle as Aladdin’s brother, Wishee Washee, and the fabulous Mike Doyle as their mother Widow Twankey (aka the First Lady of Panto). Chuckle’s comic timing is second to none, while Doyle, the New Theatre’s Pantomime Dame in residence, has fine-tuned the art of hamming it up. Doyle makes an unforgettable entrance: wearing a washing machine on his head and twerking to Bang Bang by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nick Minaj (one Dame to twerk them all?) Somehow, the outfit which features a stuffed panda on each hip isn’t even the most OTT ensemble he sports – though the award for best dressed might just go to local hero Gareth ‘Alfie’ Thomas as the Genie of the Lamp, who flexes his way across the stage to David Bowie’s Jean Genie wearing little but harem pants, feathers, and a smile. He’s as thrilling to watch on the stage as he is on the pitch – and, along with Chuckle and Doyle, make for one hell of a triple crown.

Everyone on stage is having a blast, and the joy is (dare I say) infectious. Doyle and Chuckle are constantly trying to one-up each other in the slapstick department, but the true winner is the audience. Lorraine Brown is an uber-glamorous Empress and Stephanie Webber an exceedingly elegant Scherezade, Spirit of the Ring; meanwhile Michael Morwood and the New Theatre Orchestra are on top form, and the Flying Carpet is used sparingly but spectacularly.

As the ominous Abanazar, Stefan Pejic slinks around the stage like the eyelinered lovechild of Tim Curry and Ming the Merciless, stealing scenes, hearts and hisses as he goes – don’t get me wrong, the rest of the cast are on their A-game, it’s just that Pejic has transcended the alphabet entirely. He opens Act 2 with a bang, performing Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name while ninja-dancers do a Matrix Paso Doble around him (kudos to Rory Beaton’s lighting and Steven Harris’ choreography too). I would gladly have watched Pejic read out a manual on installing drywall for two hours and I would have loved every second.

Aladdin is a story we all know and love, and this new production is brimming with tongue twisters and double entendres and slapstick – oh my! The energy of the cast is simply incredible – and with two shows a day, that’s nothing short of Herculean. If you get three wishes this year, make this one of them.

Aladdin is playing at the New Theatre through to 2^nd January 2022

In line with Welsh Government legislation, everyone over 18 attending the show will need to show an NHS Covid Pass or proof of a recent negative Covid test result with photo ID. The New Theatre Centre have implemented a number of COVID safety measures to keep audiences and the cast safe throughout performances.

A beauty, a beast, a castle, and a rose: these are the pieces which make up one of the most beloved stories of all time. Disney’s animated classic has enraptured audiences for thirty years, and for good reason, featuring memorable characters, iconic songs, and awe-inspiring animation. It’s no wonder that it took Broadway by storm soon after, and now a new touring production has made its way to Cardiff to remind us just how special a show this is. It’s easily one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen on the stage.

The team who brought the film to Broadway in 1993 have assembled to weave their magic once again, furnished with new technology, designs and special effects. Featuring music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and from a book by Linda Woolverton, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast brings to life everything you’ve ever loved about the original. This is a cast and creative team that are second to none, and together they make every frame a painting – you’d need ten pairs of eyes to take it all in.

Directed and choreographed by Matt West, Beauty and the Beast is a visual spectacle like no other. The Millennium Centre is the perfect location for a show of such immense proportions, and not one inch of the space is wasted. Ann Hould-Ward’s costumes, for which she won a Tony in 1994, continue to amaze and Stanley A. Meyer’s sets astonish – each one a work of art, they simply have to be seen to be believed. John Shivers’ sound design and Natasha Katz’s lighting, together with Darryl Maloney’s projections, are the unsung heroes of the production – and combine most thrillingly in an atmospheric chase scene in the woods that will get your heart pounding. Danny Troob’s sumptuous orchestration breathes life into Menken’s spellbinding score and Jim Steinmeyer’s illusions truly make you believe in magic. It isn’t just like walking into the movie, it’s like walking into a fairytale.

But their artistry can only thrive in the hands of a wonderful cast – and what a cast! As Belle, Courtney Stapleton commands the stage with a quiet power and a stunning voice, qualities which are showcased to perfection in the song, ‘A Change in Me’. She shares a wonderful chemistry with Alyn Hawke as the Beast, who brings a fantastic physicality to the role and a fabulously grumpy sense of humour that’s just like his animated counterpart (not to mention his magnificent rendition of ‘If I Can’t Love Her’). Sam Bailey’s Mrs Potts is a delight and she performs a gorgeously moving rendition of the title song that would make Angela Lansbury herself proud. Meanwhile, Sam Murphy as Lumiere and Nigel Richards as Cogsworth are the double act dreams are made of: Murphy is delectable as the charismatic candelabra with showmanship to spare, while Richards as the crotchety clock channels Ronnie Corbett via Dame Edna, but with a charm that’s completely his own. And there are excellent supporting performances by Samantha Bingley (Madame Garderobe), Emma Caffrey (Babette) and Martin Ball (Maurice), plus Iesa Miller as the most adorable Chip.

Between the audience and the actors, it was difficult to tell who was having the most fun – but I think that honour might go to Tom Senior as Gaston and Louis Stockil as Le Fou. Their rousing performance of ‘Gaston’ is the most fun to watch, and their (literally) rabble-rousing ‘Kill the Beast’ was both the most moving and unnerving number on the night. But for pure, breathtaking, all-out entertainment there’s not much that can top ‘Be Our Guest’, a feast for all the senses that evokes Busby Berkeley and Max Bialystock – Matt West and the cast have truly outdone themselves here.

I simply don’t know how you could get better than this – my expectations were astronomical and this show soars to the stars and back. This is a masterpiece which is every bit as good as the Disney original: if you love the animated film, you will adore this; if you don’t, you will be swept up by the magic, skill and spectacle on display. Enchanting visuals, a flawless cast, and a timeless story make Disney’s Beauty and the Beast an unmissable experience this Christmas. This tale as old as time has never been needed more that it is now: it tells us that true beauty can only be found within, that love is more powerful than fear, and that we need to keep hoping even after the last petal falls.

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is playing at the Wales Millennium Centre through 15 January 2022.

In line with Welsh Government legislation, everyone attending the show will need to show an NHS Covid Pass or proof of a recent negative Covid test result with photo ID. The Millennium Centre have implemented a number of COVID safety measures to keep audiences and the cast safe throughout performances.

It’s Christmastime again at the Sherman, and after 18 months, they’re back – both in the studio and at the cutting edge of theatre. Their ‘Back in Play’ season brought us the stage, and their new version of Charles Dickens’ festive classic has brought us the spectacle. The first full-length production directed by Sherman AD Joe Murphy at the Theatre itself, and adapted by award-winning playwright Gary Owen, A Christmas Carol is led by an exceptionally skilled ensemble of actor musicians who perfectly capture the magic of the original tale with an added Welsh twist.

It’s hard to convey how impressive a cast this is, swapping effortlessly between characters, costumes and instruments, and collaboratively weaving a gorgeous tapestry of this much-beloved story of a miser who learns to see the error of his ways. Collaboration is the key to the Sherman’s very particular magic – as with every Made at Sherman production, A Christmas Carol was constructed in its entirety under the Sherman’s roof in the self-proclaimed Heart of Cardiff. And it is a Heart which is worn very deliberately on this production’s sleeve: Newtown, Riverside and Splott all get a mention (it’s even subtitled ‘Miracle on St Mary Street’), and Welsh-language lullabies and folk songs evoke a poignant sense of history and place. Its Cardiff setting is one of the two key things which set this version apart from any other; the second is that this Ebenezer Scrooge is a woman, superbly played by Hannah McPake.

McPake’s Scrooge is a glowering menace sketched with shades of Malcolm Tucker, but with a swagger and style that is distinctly and deliciously her own. To be alternately horrifying and hilarious is a feat few have ever accomplished, and none quite as brilliantly as McPake does here. The piece requires a lot from her over the 2+ hours runtime but McPake, a stalwart of Sherman Christmas shows like The Wind in the Willows and Alice in Wonderland, takes it all in her masterful stride.

Her interactions with the ghosts are especially entertaining, not least with Keiron Self as Jacob Marley, a Michael Sheen-ian master of ceremonies who deftly guides the audience through the story. Singer-songwriter and actor Kizzy Crawford brings an ethereal grace and otherworldliness to the Ghost of Christmas Past in her Sherman stage debut. How To Win Against History’s Seiriol Davies as the Ghost of Christmas Present is truly a gift in every sense of the word and has, as far as I’m concerned, created a new festive tradition: performing Pink’s ‘Get the Party Started’ whilst dressed as a glamorous Christmas tree. (I will never look at baubles the same way again). And when the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come made its appearance, I audibly gasped.

The ensemble is rounded out by James Ifan as Scrooge’s sweetheart, Beau; Emmy Stonelake as the gregarious Fezziwig, Mrs Cratchit and more; and Nadia Wyn Abouayen, in her professional stage debut, who plays almost everyone else, from Scrooge’s Mother to Tiny Tim. While Scrooge is Cratchit’s (Feliks Mathur) tormenter, Mathur also plays a very different kind of ghost from Scrooge’s past, cleverly turning the tables on their victim-aggressor dynamic. Last but certainly not least, Apprentice Actor Enfys Clara, who headed the Youth Theatre’s pre-lockdown production of The It in Spring 2020 and features here in multiple roles, looks to have a promising career ahead of her on the stage.

The trip through Scrooge’s past dredges up not only ghosts but demons, though Murphy’s tactile and tactful direction artfully guides us through the emotional twists and turns. Owen’s thoughtful update focuses on the origin of Scrooge’s cruelty, adding a meaningful explanation for the character’s ruthless drive to make money and scorn those without it. This and several other additions wonderfully enhance the original tale – it’s no wonder that Owen (Iphigenia in Splott, Killology) is one of Wales’ best loved playwrights.

His adaptation is brought to life by a cast and creative team that have spun nothing short of magic. Lucy Rivers composes a musical deserving of the silver screen while Rachael Canning’s puppetry casts the kind of spell that’s only possible on the stage. Whenever I make a dramatic entrance in future – and, believe me, I will – I would like Andy Pike to light me as spectacularly as he does the cast here (McPake’s silhouetted introduction took my breath away). And Hayley Grindle’s strikingly gorgeous set makes you feel like you’re walking into a storybook.

A Christmas Carol has captured audiences for over 170 years. It endures because it proves that the worst of us can be redeemed, that hope can blossom from despair, and that love is the why and the how of all things. The Sherman Theatre’s wonderful adaptation of this timeless tale is easily one of the best things I’ve ever seen in the theatre: charming, hilarious and heart-warming, it’s a perfect Christmas treat for the whole family.

A Christmas Carol will be playing at the Sherman Theatre through 31 December 2021 Suitable for ages 7+

The Sherman Theatre will also be presenting a production of The Elves and the Shoemaker / Y Coblynnod a’r Crydd a show for younger audiences, with separate performances in Welsh and English.