Review - Aladdin at Milton Keynes Theatre

This year’s tale is the time old traditional show Aladdin in which the titular hero is forced to do the bidding of the evil Abanazar who threatents to rule over old Peking.

There is plenty to enjoy in this show. Ben Adams as Aladdin is as dashing and heroic as you would expect of the male lead in a panto.

And there is plenty of comedy support with Gary Wilmot giving it plenty of fun as Widow Twankey. His routine of flirting with the Emperor to Marvin Gaye by Charlie Puth has to be seen to be believed.

Kev Orkian’s Wishee Washee gets the audience going throughout the show and delivers all of the best one liner.

The best moments though were when the three of them went completely away from the script and were all having a whale of a time on the stage.

It is safe to say that Priscilla Presley is subdued as the Genie of the Lamp. While there are plenty of references to her famous husband, you sensed the producers have missed a trick by not putting in a reference to beavers given her role in The Naked Gun films.

And while the opening routine was a good start, it did go a bit down hill from there with many of the routines simply rehashes of thing that had been done before. Even some of the sets look like they have been recycled from when Aladdin was last performed at the theatre.

This year’s pantomime is not a classic and you sense that some of the performances could have been a lot more polished. But there is some fun moments for the family in the show.

Aladdin can be seen until Sunday January 10. For tickets call the box office on 0844 871 7652 or visit www.atgtickets.co.uk/miltonkeynes.