Robinsons Search for a Star - Coming to a Theatre near you!

Top Ender loved the Panto last year that we saw (Cinderella at Milton Keynes Theatre) and loved putting on her own Pantos (with the Robinsons Put on a Panto website) and so when she realised that this year she was old enough to audition for the local Panto she was very excited. I was even more excited because not only is Joanna Page in the Panto this year, but so is Stavros Flatley and Luke Perry! Of course we signed her up as soon as we were able to.

I don't think it was a coincidence but more of a stroke of luck that we were invited down to meet Joanna Page at the launch of the Robinsons Search for a Star in Milton Keynes, and Top Ender although not quite realising who Joanna was at the time did recognise Dick Whittington (A beautiful Jenna Brook) and Sarah (A handsome David Chambers and if your reading this David let me know your website and I will link to you too!) as characters from Panto.

If you don't know me in real life feel free to skip this next paragraph and for those of you who do know me in real life his name really was DC and I did kind of shout out disbelievingly "Your joking!" before explaining why I shouted that at him. It wasn't really *our* DC though was it? Someone saw him yesterday afternoon at the end of day right?

Joanna was so sweet and took the time to speak to Top Ender and I (Baby Boy had fallen asleep) on several occasions even though there were the local newspapers and local TV Stations there (and they were probably much more important for coverage than me) and even started having a discussion about Glee with Top Ender and after a quick rendition of Journey's Don’t Stop Believin’ by Top Ender told her that she hoped that she would audition for the Panto. Top Ender was of course ecstatic and is now really looking forward to the auditions in early September!

This compliment meant that Top Ender thought it was only fair to warn Joanna that "Sarah isn't really a girl, but a boy wearing girls clothes and that boy is really a girl dressed up!" which Joanna displayed great mock surprise at and said something about keeping an eye on them for Top Ender!

Now Top Ender has already made me log on to the Robinsons Search For a Star website and register her for one of the 400 audition spots in Milton Keynes (there are now 399 left people!) and if you think that your children might like a chance and they are aged between 6 and 16 then hurry along and see if a Panto near you is taking part (As far as I can tell the 12 areas which are taking part are; Aylesbury, Glasgow, Brighton, Bristol, Bromley, Liverpool, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Richmond, Stoke on Trent, Wimbledon and Woking) and register quickly!

Of course we will keep you fully updated with the Audition process, but if you could all let Top Ender know that you are supporting her and keeping your fingers crossed and saying things like "Break a leg" then I would be really really grateful!

Cinderella at Milton Keynes Theatre

On Monday night Daddy, Top Ender, Baby Boy and I went to The Milton Kenyes Theatre to review Cinderella as part of The Great Panto Review at Have a Lovely time. I was really excited to be given the opportunity as Cinderella was being played by Lousie Dearman. Now most of you probably have no idea who this blonde Temptress of the West End is but I do because I went to school with her and she was the first friend I made when my family moved to a new town when I was seven years old. In fact as a side note, her first professional engagement was as part of the Children's choir in The West End production of Joseph and The Technicolour Dreamcoat... which was also my first (and last) professional engagement in the West End!



Anyway, the story followed the traditional panto version of Cinderella, there were the mean deluded and ugly stepsisters "Bootylicious" Britney and "Willowy" Whitney (the wonderful Chris Dennis and equally wonderful David Langham), Buttons suffering from unrequited love for Cinderella(*The* Bobby Davro), a fairy Godmother (Anthea "I-did-a-conga-with-'Daddy'-during-GMTV's-Get-up-and-Give-week-in-1995" Turner), A Prince Charming (Anthony "I can make you feel good" Kavana, who is blooming sexy btw!), Man servant Dandini (the perfect Chris Nelson) and of course Cinderella's Dad Baron Hardup who had just returned with the ugly stepsisters from America and had a rather strong American accent... but then that could of been because he was being played by Mickey Rooney!



Another little side note, when I took my Spanish GCSE, one of the questions we had to prepare an answer for was who did we respect. My still memorised answer was;
"Me gusta el actor estadounidense Mickey Rooney, que jugó Mi Taylor en "National Velvet". Creo que es un actor maravilloso."
Which translates as;
"I like the American actor Mickey Rooney, who played Mi Taylor in "National Velvet". I think he is a wonderful actor."
I like to think that the reason I scored low on my GCSE Spanish oral exam was because my Teacher had no clue as to who I was talking about, and not because my Spanish accent was/is terrible.

Top Ender sat transfixed for the entire first act and could only be dragged away from her seat in the interval to visit the toilet on the condition that she could have an ice-cream when she returned, and that she wouldn't miss the second act! She found the whole spectacle to be an amazing experience and was delighted with the inclusion of the last song of the night High School Musicals "We're all in this Together". She thought the costumes to be divine (they were), the sets to be amazing (they were) and the jokes that didn't fly over her head (which I am so happy did the last thing I need is a repeat of the Sausage incident) to be laugh out loud funny.

Baby Boy stood for most of the first act, dancing along to the music, shouting at the appropriate times and chatting up the lady who was sat in front of him. If the lady who was sat in front of him is reading this, you made his night by chatting back before the show started and I really am sorry if you found popcorn in your hair when you went home. The majority of the second act was missed by Baby Boy as he went to sleep on my knee just before the Interval... only to awake in the Second act to shout "Boo, hiss" as we had rehearsed earlier in the day. The lady sitting next to me thought this was marvellous, especially as he snuggled back down and went to sleep again after.

Daddy was impressed that the writer Eric Potts (You know Diggory Compton the baker in Coronation Street) had written 14 of the Pantos being shown around the UK this year and found Bobby Davro's topical jokes (the ones that were luckily flying over Top Enders head) to be very amusing as well as finding out that Bobby Davro, beloved entertainer has a fantastic singing voice. We have both been doing impressions of him since we left the Theatre!



I found the whole production to be laugh out loud funny, and even the good natured heckles didn't phase the actors who just rolled them into the dialogue and giggled along with us at the slip of the tongues and odd mess up of lines. Two local cast members (who won a MK Got Talent style contest) made me proud to be from MK and the sponsorship by Robinsons (Remember Top Enders review of the Put on a Panto site?) caused a good giggle from the Adult Audience members when mentioned by The Ugly Sisters in an attempt to get the sponsorship projections turned off in the second act! There is no doubt that The Ugly Sisters and Bobby Davro were the Show stealers (and the ones involved in talking most to the Audience) although Louise Dearman's impression of Stacey from this years X Factor was hilarious!



As is usual there was a fair amount of audience participation and The Ugly Step-Sisters "picked" upon one female audience member who turned out to be a family friend (her two eldest daughters were two of my bridesmaids!) and she and her family ranging from 70 something to 7(ish) all enjoyed the show too, even though they were "picked" upon the whole evening and I have to mention because I know she reads this blog that we knew the female 70 year old something had a nice "Ooh and Aah" but its official now because Bobby Davro said so!

Cinderella is on at Milton Keynes Theatre Now until Daddy's Birthday, (otherwise known as The 17th January 2010) Tickets range between £17 and £29 depending on where you sit and of course when you go. So go and buy tickets now and tell them I sent you and that we are incredibly grateful for our tickets and we are looking forward to Jack and The Bean Stalk next year!

Of course the whole point of The Great Panto Review series and all the hard work being put into helping bloggers get the tickets for them and their families was to help children with cancer through the charity NACCPO. There is a target of £1,000 and we are asking those who can to support this by visiting the JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/Havealovelytime


And the last thought of the night came from Daddy who commented;

"Well honey, you might of gone to school with Louise Dearman, but you haven't got a signed photo of Anthea Turner now have you?"

He has me there, a signed photo of Anthea Turner is something I don't have... now where did I put that signed photo of Louise Dearman?