Originally published by L.S. Media. December 2009.
Cast: Henry Winkler, Natasha Hamiliton, Nikki Davies-Jones, Les Dennis, Patrick Buckley, Daniel Taylor, Rick Vaughn, Kaitlin Howard, Chris Jenkins, Jessica Hill, Luke Redford, Ryan Pidgen, Lisa Connell, Ben Goffe.
J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan has been charming readers and its theatre audiences for the better part of a century now and thankfully it shows no sign of running out of steam. This year the Liverpool Empire Theatre is hosting this spectacular show and with some big names in the cast it is sure to get the reception it deserves.
The story of a young boy who doesn’t want to grow up and become a man but just wants to fight pirates and Red Indians and do nothing but listen to stories all day is something that all of us can dream of and secretly want to be. This play gives us that chance to relive that time of our lives when we could use the power of our imagination and foil the enemy by hook or by crook.
No pantomime is complete without its villain and in Henry Winkler the production found the perfect man to be the foil to the beautiful Natasha Hamilton’s Peter. Henry worked the crowd excellently and was as dastardly, mean and wonderful as was possible to be. He was also able to, as pantomime demands, send himself up superbly with a moment of pure comedy as he broke out in the voice of his well loved character Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli from Happy Days.
Natasha Hamilton herself proved once again that her voice is amongst the best in the business and her duets with Nikki Davis-Jones (who played Wendy Darling) had the whole audience enraptured.
Les Dennis as always, never lets down an audience and is possibly one of the best ad libbers in the country. His remarkable knack of putting an audience, especially the younger members, at ease, continues to amaze theatre goers and is no small wonder that the British public love him so much. His comic portrayal of the Pantomime dame (playing both the Darling’s nurse and the pirate’s cook Nut roast Nora) had the sell out audience in fits of laughter.
During one particular scene towards the start of the play, Les came on stage with the Darling’s family dog Nana (played superbly by Patrick Buckley) and as they came to the front of the stage the dog’s paw came flying off, quick as a flash Les did a cracking impression of Rolf Harris on television’s Animal Hospital.
This show is not just about the three main stars, as I am sure they will acknowledge. Much praise must go to the supporting actors who were magnificent and the orchestra lead brilliantly by Musical Director Anthony England.
As ever the point of a pantomime is for people to forget for a moment the hardships of life that are with us everyday and have a great night out with loved ones and friends. This production of Peter Pan had this in spades and achieved what it set out to do with consumate ease.
Ian D. Hall