Worcester Theatres Pantomime 2024 – Aladdin: Review

Ad – tickets gifted for the purpose of a review

Nothing says Christmas quite like a pantomime and Worcester Theatres have kicked off the festive season in style. Aladdin is a magic carpet ride of upbeat songs, garish colours, loads of laughs and a massive dose of fun. As always, there are jokes for kids and some that are just for the adults. We headed over to check out the show last night.

Aladdin at Worcester Swan Theatre: The Story

As the lights dim at the start of the show, we are introduced to the pantomime Villain Abanazar and his somewhat belligerent sidekick, Spirit of the Ring. Abanazar is plotting to take over the world, but first he has to get his hands on a lamp that only Aladdin can retrieve from its hiding place in a mountain cave.

Aladdin lives with his brother Wishee Washee and his mum, Widow Twankey. Bumbling Police Sergeant Pod unsuccessfully attempts to keep Aladdin and Princess Jasmine apart. When Pod finally catches Aladdin, he’s deep in conversation with Jasmine at the palace and it looks like he’s in huge trouble. That is until his uncle Abanazar appears to save the day.

Soon, Abanazar and Aladdin are setting off for the cave – where Aladdin finds the lamp and Abanazar locks him in the cave. This time, it’s Spirit of the Lamp and Genie to the rescue. Aladdin is transformed into Prince Ali, and he heads back to the palace to propose to Jasmine.

Abanazar hasn’t finished with them yet though, and there are a couple of evil plots to get through before the wedding can take place. Of course, a ghost shows up along the way but coming face to face with Widow Twankey scares it off. Aladdin takes a magic carpet ride, and as usual there’s both voluntary and involuntary audience participation. My girls were in absolute tears of laughter at the “he felt smart” song, which seemed to appeal to the sense of humour of just about everyone in the audience.

And don’t worry – Aladdin and Jasmine get their happy ending eventually.

Aladdin at Worcester Theatres: The Cast and Crew

• Ian Good: The popular director and pantomime dame is back at Worcester for another year, this time he’s playing the flamboyant Widow Twankey.
• Sean McLevy: A fantastic pantomime villain who slipped out of character hilariously to explain away a technical hiccup before seamlessly morphing back into Abanazar.
• Aimée Cupper: A Worcester panto favourite, and this year she’s back as Spirit of the Ring.
• Ilya Akinfiev: Takes on the title role of Aladdin
• Aaron Corbett: Brilliantly bumbling Police Sergeant Pod
• Nathan Blyth: He’s gone from Silly Billy in last year’s performance of Jack and the Beanstalk to Wishee Washee for 2024.
• Esther Foga: The beautiful character that every little girl in the audience wanted to be – Princess Jasmine.
• Kai Cooper: The all-powerful genie
• Megan Coates: Incredible choreography and ensemble.
• Georgina Skitt: Stunning dancing in the ensemble.
• Raman Parwana: Break-dancing genius – ensemble.
• Dance teams: As always, the children dancing in the ensemble were amazing and formed an essential part of the cast.

Aladdin at Worcester Swan Theatre: The Verdict

In case you hadn’t already picked up on this, we all had a fantastic evening at Aladdin at Worcester Theatres. As always, they offer the ideal combination of jokes for adults and children. Audience participation from an unwilling victim was present as ever.

I always find pantomimes to be quite lengthy given that young children often attend. Whilst Aladdin was typically long, the upbeat music kept everybody engaged, as did the audience participation. There were a few technical difficulties – particularly related to the sound, but the cast coped admirably.

We always admire the cast for remaining so high-energy throughout such a lengthy performance. Especially as a few of them are barely off the stage. I highly recommend Worcester Swan Theatre pantomime as a family Christmas tradition.

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