We took Oliver to his first pantomime ("oh no you didn't"!) just before I had to return to work after the Christmas break. We saw Aladdin at the Opera House in Manchester.
We asked him who he wanted to take and he chose a girl from his nursery. It was packed when we arrived but we managed to get upstairs to our sets and also to buy light sabres for the kids. (Light sabres? For Aladdin?)
After a few minutes it got under way. Despite his friend deciding she wanted to go to the loo after 20 minutes and then that she wanted to go home, we all eventually got into the swing of it and enjoyed it. The obvious old jokes were there ("He's behind you!") and also plenty of adult jokes that went over the kids' heads. In fact if anything there was a bit too much of that.
One character was clearly played by a comedian and he had a spot towards the end interviewing three kids and answering for them in silly voices. Oliver said he liked that the best.
But the best moment for me was a few minutes into the show when a simple facade backdrop was lifted to reveal a much more impressive set behind. "Wooooowwwww!, gasped Oliver, "I wasn't expecting that big...." he found himself lost for words. Priceless.
Of course we had ice cream in the interval and a few other snacks too. All in all, a "must do" experience for kids of all ages.
Posts
