Guest NicolaJayne Posted December 12, 2014 Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 Forgot to say not sure if Sue Cross is a member on here but if she is it was very nice to meet her last night at the panto, not at the stage door, but she came over to say hello. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khelda Posted December 12, 2014 Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 Thanks Elaine for your report, loved reading it as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal Posted December 12, 2014 Report Share Posted December 12, 2014 Thanks for another great report Elaine. All these reports and photos really make me want to see it. It is worrying Gareth is still suffering. Let's hope he is resting in between performances to aid his recovery. Loving those photos Val. It certainly is a very colourful production. There is another review here: http://thecroydoncitizen.com/culture/review-2014-fairfield-halls-pantomime-snow-white-seven-dwarfs/ Review: the 2014 Fairfield Halls pantomime – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs By Danielle Lowe - Thursday 11th December, 2014 Danielle Lowe had a lovely time at the Fairfield panto. Oh no she didn’t! Oh yes she did! There’s always glitz and glamour at seasonal pantomimes and on Tuesday 9th December, this year’s Fairfield Halls production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs proved to be no exception. With an array of modern twists and interactive fun the story is brought to life and everybody in the audience, regardless of age, feels compelled to get involved. Seeing Pop Idol winner Gareth Gates playing the delightfully love-struck Prince Charming is clearly an opportunity not to be missed for the mums and grannies of the audience, especially when appearing alongside Quinn Patrick, Siâni Owen and Brian Wheeler, and the casting of Witney White – a real-life Disney princess – in the role of Snow White is perfect. This will make you want to dance, sing and clap the night away Best of all was the way that each of the dwarfs’ personalities are really brought to life. In some performances of Snow White you can feel that the actor has simply been cast because of height, but in this production you really feel that the personality of the character matches that of the actor, particularly Loopy, a trouble-maker played by “avid ‘tricker’” Kain Francis. This really does help keep the production alive, especially the faces the dwarfs pull at certain foods – before going on to sing about them eagerly. And if shouting “He’s behind you!” isn’t enough to get everybody involved, the cast takes on a variety of popular songs including a Madness mash-up and recent chart hits like All Of Me by John Legend that will make you want to dance, sing and clap the night away. Even if you think you’re safe from having to participate and can hide, Muddles, the court jester will do his very best to make sure you don’t get away with it that easily. Old jokes will have you laughing and groaning however hard you try to be all grown-up and mature. Every little detail is practically perfect. Set, costumes and choreography glitter and fit together seamlessly, allowing Nurse Nellie to undergo more than ten hilarious costume changes and Queen Ivannah to go from elegant dress to evening gown in sparkling succession. There’s Christmas spirit abroad in the glitter-filled atmosphere Of course, it wouldn’t be a pantomime without a few ‘accidental’ coordination issues between cast and band performers and mocking of the props. However, it really adds something to the way that this whole production is put together. This isn’t naturalism – it’s pantomime, so everybody rolls their eyes and thinks: here we go again. Prepare to spend an amazing few hours seeing something that you will not regret, especially with Christmas spirit abroad in the glitter-filled atmosphere. This is certainly one of the best Fairfield pantomimes produced for quite some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorksheather Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Another great review for Gareth . http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/snow-white-and-fairfield-halls-11032 2014 sees Evolution Productions present its fourth pantomime at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon. Each and every year they get bigger and better and this year's offering is the slickest and silliest to date. One of the youngest pantomime titles, Paul Hendy has done a sterling job in panto-mising the Brothers Grimm tale. Not only has he seamlessly interspersed a Dame, he manages to keep the pace of the show moving through a number of scenes, which is no easy feat considering the number of characters and settings that need introducing; from the Wicked Queen and inhabitants of Carpathia Castle to the Seven Dwarfs of the diamond mine. So often the Prince can be underwritten and comes across as smug, arrogant or plain, but Gareth Gates's handsome royal brings the Principal Boy into the 21st century. His fine-voiced Charming is charismatic, romantic, witty and not afraid to send himself up, the butt of many a joke as the rest of the cast keep misidentifying him as Pop Idol's Darius. Gates shows great knowledge and respect for the role in never overstepping the comedy mark, which in this production is delivered by Croydon regular Quinn Patrick and newcomer Jack Glanville. Glanville is the Ashcroft Theatre's best Comic for many years, a country bumpkin of a Muddles: endearingly warm hearted and a little bit simple. Combined with Quinn Patrick's anarchic Nurse, the two drive the comedy and work the audience with skill. When the children remain silent during Snow White's attempted murder, the two use it to their advantage in a piece of ad-libbing that every performer dreams the opportunity of having. Not only does this increase the shouts for Nurse Nellie and Muddles to stop the second time round, it is even more effective as the comedy moment has been broken and swiftly dealt with, the contrast in mood demonstrating the many levels upon which pantomime works. As Snow White, Witney White plays a bright Princess with a beautiful voice. The scenes between her and Gareth Gates capture the excited nature of a blossoming romance between childhood sweethearts. One of the most touching moments of the show comes in the Second Act when the dwarfs remind Snow White not to let anyone enter the cottage. As they leave, chief dwarf Sarge, played by Michael Walter, sings Snow White a beautiful song thanking her for all she has done for the magnificent seven and how much she means to them. This, juxtaposed with act two's Elvis-inspired finale, provides Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with light and shade, so important and oft forgotten in pantomime today. Completing the line-up, Siani Owen's menacing Queen Ivannah is pure evil with a spine-chilling cackle and a powerful voice to pierce any soul. Using 'Simon Cowell' as the Magic Mirror allows for some great interplay between the two 'Villains', although Hendy's plot hole still remains when the audience calls the Magic Mirror having earlier been told only Queen Ivannah has the power to do so. As the show's Morcambe and Wise inspired overture suggests, this is a pantomime full of sunshine. Bursting with silliness and sentiment, love and laughter, Snow White has set the bar extremely high for next year's Cinderella. © David Chadderton 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 What a fabulous review for Gareth and from a theatre critic too. Thankyou for posting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khelda Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Thanks Heather, I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NicolaJayne Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 That is another fabulous write up Heather Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValR Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Thanks Heather, what a brilliant review. It would be great if Gareth got more theatre work as he's obviously thought of as a very good actor by the theatre critics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethsmelody Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 Yesterday for my birthday my daughter Tracey took me as a surprise to see Gareth in the panto. It was wonderful. Gareth was great. I was worried that the songs would not be right . How wrong was I. The children were singing along jumping up and down it was fantastic to see. They knew the songs from the intros. Singing at the top off their voice to All Of Me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khelda Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 What a lovely surprise for you. Glad you loved the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 How wonderful your daughter surprised you. She sure is a real gem. There was no doubt you would enjoy the panto with Gareth singing and so glad they were the right songs lol. You are one lucky lady (especially having your birthday in December). Thanks for letting us know how it went. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ValR Posted December 18, 2014 Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 What a lovely surprise for you Yvonne - you couldn't have had a better birthday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val4Gareth Posted December 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2014 What a lovely surprise from Tracey for your birthday Yvonne. Glad you enjoyed your day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorksheather Posted December 23, 2014 Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 Lovely comments here about Gareth . http://www.theparentinggeek.com/fairfield-halls-2014-pantomime-my-review-of-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs/ Charming- Gareth Gates Gareth Gates played a great Prince Charming. He is obviously a modest man who can take a laugh at his own expense as so many of the running jokes of the pantomime were at him! They called him Will Young at one point and then Darius throughout the rest of the show! Quinn Patrick’s Nanny Nellie described him to his face as having ‘a little orange head like a Satsuma’ that consumed the audience with giggles! And Gareth earnt himself a huge round of supportive applause when he told Queen Ivana that she was even worse than him when her she stuttered over the words in one piece of dialogue. What a lovely singer Gareth gates is! It was a real treat to have a lead male who could carry the singing involved in the show so strongly and melodically. He has a great skill in drawing the audience into the emotion of the songs he sings and creating a real hush of genuine listening and engagement from them. I met Gareth back in September and had a chance to talk to him about his singing, his acting and his now fifth year doing panto. He spoke really candidly about his stutter and the strategies and coaching he uses to overcome it. He told us that on stage he can become someone else, that with a script he can practice and therefore perfect his speech, though he also said that he would put on a more princely accent and assume a more regal air by way of stepping out of being himself and becoming the character for a while. I was keen to watch the outcome of all of this preparation and procedure and to watch Gareth feeling as relaxed and comfortable in the role as he had predicted that he would be. The posh voice was indeed there and he did not falter over a single syllable for the whole performance. I appreciate and admire how vulnerable and honest Gareth is about all of this. Public personas too often appear too word and picture perfect and make the rest of us feel somehow more ordinary. And yet we are all ordinary in some ways and extraordinary in others. We all put our trousers on one leg at a time no matter how supersonic and high achieving we may be. Gareth seems somehow stronger to me by his being open and willing to talk about his strengths and his challenges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khelda Posted December 23, 2014 Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 Loved reading that Heather, thanks for finding it. Great review on Gareth as a person and singer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily xx Posted December 23, 2014 Report Share Posted December 23, 2014 That's lovely. Made me 😄😄😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garethsmelody Posted December 24, 2014 Report Share Posted December 24, 2014 Thank you. Loved reading this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal Posted December 24, 2014 Report Share Posted December 24, 2014 That was a lovely read Heather. Thankyou. There are some fabulous photos of the panto stars visiting sick children in hospital. The real meaning of Christmas. http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/pictures/GALLERY-Croydon-panto-stars-spread-Christmas/pictures-25759822-detail/pictures.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maria_1981 Posted December 27, 2014 Report Share Posted December 27, 2014 Thank you for posting that beautiful article Heather and to Chris for the link to those pics, such a beautiful cause Me, Sarahjane, Andrea, Hayley and her mum all had a lovely time seeing Gareth when we went on December 12th, Gareth played a perfect Prince once again,we enjoyed the panto but overall we preferred the previous Snow White we seen him do and didn't think the dwarfs were as good as last time as they had more character back then, this time the best one was that one it looks like Gareth is throwing in one of the promo pics. We got a taxi from the train station to the venue and when we was almost there we spotted Gareth walking, we got there just in time,a few seconds later would of been too late so we was rushing to pay the driver and get out of the taxi so much that we practically threw the money at him, you could tell he must of thought we had gone mad lol, Hayley was the first one out o the taxi so rushing she pretty much ell into Gareth's arms lol. Here's our pics from the day, except Hayleys as she hasn't had chance to upload them yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khelda Posted December 28, 2014 Report Share Posted December 28, 2014 Thanks Maria for your report and the great pictures, they are lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorksheather Posted December 29, 2014 Report Share Posted December 29, 2014 Thanks for posting your report Maria and thanks for your gorgeous photos with Gareth . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val4Gareth Posted December 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2014 Thanks for your report Maria. And thanks for showing us your pictures. They are all lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternal Posted December 31, 2014 Report Share Posted December 31, 2014 Thanks for sharing the photos and your account of going to the Panto. Sounds like it was a fab show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NicolaJayne Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Only just seen your report Maria, how lucky that you arrived just as Gareth did and got these lovely pics. Hope to see Hayley's on here too. I have to agree with you about the other Snow White being better, and also liked the Dwarfs better but thought the really tiny one was very cute. I am always Grateful that I have a December Birthday as it means Brian can't refuse to take me, so I am able to see the panto twice once with him and Sammy and then again with Linda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maria_1981 Posted January 4, 2015 Report Share Posted January 4, 2015 Here's Hayley's pics from the day and one of her mum Pat with him too.x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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