I made offers of parts to some of the cast that appeared in Dick Whittington only a couple of weeks after the production closed and they snapped up the chance to work at the Coliseum again. Fine Time Fontayne signed up first and he and I will be writing the script together during the year. Fine Time has already written a first draft which he sent over to me to look at and re-write. We’ll then spend an afternoon going through that version and divide it into different segments which we take away and work on individually.
An early draft will also be sent to both the designer and the musical director so that they can start work on the production as well. The designer has their work cut out for Cinderella, the ugly step sisters in effect are two dames with two sets of intricate and wacky costumes. The dame usually has nine costume changes throughout the show so this year there will be nearly twice as many. Dave Bintley, he musical director will start to think about what songs to include, Fine Time and I will leave notes in the script such as [ENSEMBLE SONG HERE], [LOVE DUET HERE], [BADDIE SONG HERE]. While the show always has current pop songs, we always include some classic tunes as well and these are some of the first to be chosen and it’s important to find the right song for that particular moment in the story.
The rest of the cast that have confirmed include Richard J Fletcher as Buttons, Justine Bailey as Prince Charming, Liz Carney as the fairy and Simeon Truby as an ugly step sister. Dick Whittington was Simeon’s first pantomime at the Coliseum, working alongside Fine Time, we saw the potential for a great double act as the ugly step sisters. The chemistry between the two actors who play those parts has to be just right and I am confident that Simeon and Fine Time will deliver some fantastic routines.
I always mention how much work goes into creating the Coliseum’s annual pantomime and here’s the proof. There was maybe one week in January when panto wasn’t on the agenda but it really is a year long process – and there’s a good reason for that. One third of our visitors from the whole year come to panto and it accounts for nearly 30% of our annual earned income.
For now though it’s back to Conan Doyle and The Hound of the Baskervilles rehearsals…
See you out and about.
Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director
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