Panto review: Aladdin at the Everyman brought us on a welcome magic-carpet escape
Ciaran Bermingham and Marion Goggin in the Aladdin pantomime at the Everyman in Cork. Picture: Darragh Kane
The morning headlines on the Covid situation would bring us crashing back to reality, but for two glorious hours, Aladdin took its audience on a magic carpet ride to a world of wonder, joy and laughter.
With so few sleeps left to the big day, what better way to start the festive season than with a welcome break from the gloom of uncertainty hanging over our second Covid Christmas, as Cada Performing Arts and the Everyman presented a sparkling sugar rush of traditional panto.
Dayl Cronin as Aladdin and Marion Goggin as Jasmine are charismatic leads, and all the accents are refreshingly Corkonian, with the exception of baddie Michael Sands’ suitably plummy British tones, while Ciaran Bermingham as Twankey and Fionula Linehan as Wishee ham it up outrageously throughout.
Our two junior reviewers, Carrigaline Educate Together students Izzy McRae and Mary Kiely, both 11, found it impossible to single out their favourite parts, saying the entire show was just wonderful.
“It was really good, I loved all the acting, it was just amazing,” said Izzy. “The singing was really good too. I’d really recommend it, it was great.” Mary was also impressed.
“I thought the dancing was really good, and I liked the part at the start where they had the four girls singing as well.” Aladdin’s magic carpet (seatbelt included) was a highlight for our younger reviewers, and Izzy felt the starlight effects gave a real sense of the audience being on the carpet.
“Sometimes with things like that, you can see the ropes used, but you couldn’t with this, it was so good,” Mary said.
The reduced-capacity audience clearly loved the show too, with kids screaming with delight throughout, and adults leading the children in what was surely the younger audience members’ first standing ovation
At almost two hours with no intermission, the high-energy show zips along, with sumptuous costumes, acrobatic choreography, glorious musical numbers, fantastic sets and a call-and-response routine as old as time. This is a triumph of old-fashioned panto with an exhilarating modern attitude.
