Review: A CRACKIN' CINDERELLA STORY, Websters Theatre

Inside Out Productions present A Crackin' Cinderella Story, their 10th pantomime at Websters Theatre in Glasgow. 

DJ Buttons (Ciara Flynn) gets the party going from the off with the perfect level of audience interaction. Buttons is Cinderella's best friend and gets the story established while lining up all the cues for the audience to shout along through the show. Cinderella (Shannon McLean) is a kindhearted and generous girl who lives with her mean and ugly stepsisters- Whitney and Britney.

In a brilliant bit of casting, we have Cole Stewart who is more Rupaul's Drag Race Queen than panto dame as scathing sister Whitney and a puppet as her sister Britney. It's a clever way to work with a smaller cast and wins big laughs from the younger audience members.

The plot follows the story of Cinderella fairly closely with a little bit of a Glasgow twist. P.Charming has a boyband level of fame and is performing at the hottest gig in town at Kitty O'Sheas. Cinderella's sisters make her tear up her invite but thanks to a fairy godmother, she shall go to the gig! 

The charm of this pantomime is the chaos that ensues in the audience. It's one of the smaller theatres in town which means everyone feels closer to the action and the cast are very quick to respond to feedback/heckles and this is a delight.

A lot of care has gone into the musical numbers with excellent choreography but as most songs are performed in full, it's a bit too much and gets in the way of the storytelling and humour. The cast are talented and there are some real vocal highlights but the silliness is definitely the strong point.

With so many pantomimes around Glasgow at this time of year, you'd do well to check out A Crackin' Cinderella Story at Websters Theatre if you're looking for something a bit more intimate. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved and the smaller the auditorium- the better your chance of catching some sweeties...!
 

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