Review: SNOW WHITE, Wolverhampton Grand
Photo credit: Alex Styles
The Wolverhampton Grand plays host to the delightfully silly and fantastically witty Snow White for this festive season, and what a joyful feast for the senses! In the true spirit of panto, this reviewer was accompanied by J*, her six year old niece, whose opinions will be rightfully shared.
Snow White (Evie Pickerill) is reaching the age to assume her role as the rightful Queen. However, Queen Dragonella (Niki Colwell Evans) has evil plans to hinder Snow White's ascent. Tired of the Evil Queen's reign, the people of the land join forces to ensure Snow White's safety and aid her in taking her rightful role.
The original story may have failed the test of time but here, has been expertly updated by Tam Ryan and Ian Adams. Gone are the dwarves and in come puppets, absolutely adorable forest animals, and many other characters all portrayed by the high energy ensemble. These talented eight play a multitude of characters and turn their hands to many skills from puppetry to roller blading and energetic choreography, complete with high kicks that made my hips feel sore. J* was a huge fan of "the shy one (kudos Leonie Wall) “cause sometimes I'm shy and I take a big breath and can be confident too".
Tam Ryan is clearly at home on the Grand stage. The commitment to physical comedy is ridiculous and exciting, such a master of comedy; the cheeky ad libs only add to the hysteria. Niki Colwell Evans is vocally outstanding in the role of Queen Dragonella and toes the line of wicked and fun with skill and humour, and Kelle Bryan is charmingly wonderful as the rhyming Elementa. "Elementa was really nice and kind."
The cast are free to play and excel thanks to the superb band that underpin a plethora of absolute bops, Christmas bangers and the occasional musical theatre reference. Director David Janson opted for more is more and in this instance, more was the perfect amount. J* and I both agreed we would go back to see it all over again. Snow White truly does contain something for everyone. Jokes are pitched at levels for all ages and, with a number of performances being audio described, signed and relaxed, accessibility has been put at the forefront of this experience.
This one’s not to be missed, Besties.
***** Five stars
Reviewed by: Alanna Boden
Snow White plays at Wolverhampton Grand until 7 January 2024, with further information here.