REVIEW: Mansfield panto Sleeping Beauty hits all the right notes

Sleeping Beauty is now on at the Leeming Street venue – and features all the traditional panto magic Mansfield families have come to love over the years, and much, much more.

From ‘dad’ jokes, to a messy kitchen scene, to ‘oh yes it is’, a larger-than-life panto dame and audience singalong, the usual panto crowd-pleasers are there in abundance.

There are plenty of jokes about Mansfield, a TikTok dance medley and your Chad even gets a mention amid the plentiful Covid-related humour as the panto makes a welcome return after theatres were shut last year due to pandemic restritions.

Mansfield comedy favourite Adam Moss is again the star, the glue that holds the whole production together, with jokes and antics as Silly Billy to delight the children and adults.

Highlights

But this year, it is so much more than a one-man show with a fantastic cast all given the chance to repeatedly shine throughout a production full of highlights.

Philip Meeks, as Nanny, is a wonderful dame, with an amazing array of costumes and hairstyles and nearly as many laughs as Silly Billy – from subtle innuendo to love for an audience member and particularly when he fluffed his lines and berated himself by his real name on stage.

Actress Rebecca Wheatley shows off her renowned singing talent – she has had a top-10 single as a solo artists – as the Good Fairy, while newcomer Tobias Turley, on his professional debut, as the Prince, also showcases a fantastic singing voice on more than one occasion, including a memorable duet with Channel 5 Milkshake! presenter Amy Thompson, who plays the title character.

Christina Meehan is a wonderfully villainous and memorable Carabosse, lapping up the audiences boos with a particularly impressive evil cackle.

The only minor disappointment is that Gary Davis, as the King, does not get more of a chance to show off his operatic singing talents – although one can understand that, as opera and panto are perhaps not the likeliest of bedfellows.

After being much-missed last year, the annual Palace panto has made a welcome return and yet again hits all the right notes.

Sleeping Beauty continues until January 2. See mansfieldpalace.co.uk

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