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Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

I fear not the spoilers, I would love a review!

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

Yes I love it. Can Frieda be the Goth Fairy?

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

Where to begin? Well, how about Aberrrrdeen for starters? A mere hop from Essex, a nice little train ride or two …… actually 12 hours door to door, but who's counting where Lee is concerned? The weather was reasonably kind to us (very cold on Wednesday, and a bit damp now and again, but we dodged most of the wet stuff and even went for a walk on the beach!

Right, Snow White.

A couple of Aberdonian comedians introduce Snow White. Then handsome prince comes calling. A mirror and wicked queen put in an appearance, as do seven dwarfs/dwarves (according to preference). Some singing, dancing, heroine tastes poisoned apple, hero kisses her back to life, the mirror cracks and wicked queen is banished. The end.

Oh, you want a bit more detail? Then …

SPOILER ALERT

This version of Snow White is very Scottish. You may have seen Doric mentioned a fair bit - it is the local Aberdonian/North East Scotland language/dialect. I googled it before we went to get an idea of a few phrases, and just as well I did, as there are a lot of references to Doric.

Also, I may not get everything in the right order, but hopefully you will get the gist.

We start with the usual scene setting in the village of Aberdeen, followed by the entrance of Muddles (the 'simple Simon' type role), the son of Nurse Nellie MacDuff (Snow White's former nursemaid), the traditional Dame. When they were in full flow, we had to listen very carefully to understand some of the fast delivered dialogue!

It is the eve of Snow White's 21st birthday. The Wicked Queen is determined she will not see her 22nd. Snow White had met Prince Harry of Holby only once before, where they both fell in love at first sight. She can't wait to see him again at her birthday party.

Muddles wants a girlfriend. The latest device to embarrass the audience is a camera, operated by Nurse Nellie on stage, scanning the audience, for everyone to see. It is hilarious as long as it isn't you that's being picked on (and oh, yes, we were!). They then put a 'bubble' of words above your head, to indicate what you are thinking. It is very funny.

At some point we are introduced to the Seven Dwarfs, who used to guard the Palace until the Wicked Queen banished them for being ugly. They are hilarious, and play the parts on their knees (think Lord Farquaad in Shrek) - it was quite disconcerting to bump into a couple of them later and find they are about six foot two (but I digress!). Thanks to a Disney embargo, they had to be given different names from the traditional, and are also not allowed to sing their famous song ….

Finally, Prince Harry arrives. We have had to wait a good 20-30 minutes for this moment - wow, does he look good! Once it's established that he is a Prince (not a doctor!), "if you're Prince Harry, then I'm Meghan Markle" purrs Nurse Nellie as she tries to pinch his posterior! - it's not long before he launches into Any Dream Will Do, accompanied by children, and disrupted by Nurse Nellie and Muddles, who get bored, and start reading a newspaper with the headline "Holby City axed" and photo of a sobbing Lee in Prince Harry costume!

Prince Harry and Snow White meet up, confirm that they are still in love, although she does think he should work on his cheesy chat up lines, and they sing "Rewrite the Stars" (from The Greatest Showman).

There is a hilarious sketch involving Prince Harry and Nurse Nellie, where the latter performs an amazing song incorporating the names of 75 Aberdonian/Scottish towns and villages, while Harry looks on, totally mystified. They kept calling him a doctor, to which he replied crossly, "I'm not a doctor, I'm a nurse - I mean Prince!"

Now I'm somewhat confused over the order of things from here on. I know there is lots of arm waving and cursing from the Wicked Queen, culminating in the end of Act One with her flying over the audience in a giant pterodactyl, with Prince Harry looking very dashing and singing "It's Alive" (also from the Greatest Showman).

There is another sketch (this is definitely in Act Two) where Harry shouts "lead on Macduff" and gets teased mercilessly by the other two. They accuse him of being posh and not understanding Doric. "Of course I know Doric. He's a character in Shakespeare. 'Alas poor Doric, I knew him well' …" delivered in suitably princely/Shakespearian fashion! This leads on to them eating Haribos - or Torry-bo's as they rename them, whereupon Harry's voice turns into broad Scots on helium! All three do, actually, while they discuss which flavour and colour of the sweets they prefer and how they like to eat them! That bit is pre-recorded and they lip sync it.

Going back briefly to the plot, Snow White takes refuge in a cottage in the forest, home of the Seven Dwarfs. They tell her all about being banished when she was a baby, and she immediately restores them to favour. Prince Harry proposes at some point and she accepts him. Meanwhile, the Wicked Queen makes a poisoned apple in her laboratory and, disguised as an old crone, finds Snow White at the cottage and tricks her into taking the fateful bite. The dwarfs, Harry, Muddles and Nurse Nellie all gather around her, and someone suggests that she can be saved only by her true love's kiss. Muddles, who has always loved her, tries but fails. Harry then gives her the 'snog of her life' and brings her back from the brink.

There are other bits. Lee/Harry sings "Nothing Holding Me Back", which I confess I hadn't heard before, but is in fact sung by pop star Shawn Mendes (younger readers will probably know!) - and in one of life's strange coincidences, when I was watching I'm A Celeb last night, that song came on in the background and I was instantly transported back to Aberdeen.

The two comedians have another moment, when Nurse Nellie has nodded off and needs bringing up to speed - speed being the operative word as Muddles recaps the entire panto in about four minutes, in broad Doric, but with the odd clear phrase such as "his agent said four songs in his contract" - very funny! Then Muddles did the Wonky Donkey sketch, which I recall Bobby Davro did in the Southampton panto some years ago.

The Wicked Queen was captured, Prince Harry came on wielding a sword to smash the mirror but, to please all feminists, Snow White took the sword from him, saying "this is personal" and smashed the mirror herself, before the Wicked Queen was carted off to exile in Balamory (an "in" joke, as the actress playing her had starred in the Balamory children's TV programme). We all ended up with the audience joining in in the traditional sing song, each side of the auditorium vying for the loudest (imagine, on a school's matinee afternoon!). Then, finally, the Royal Wedding.

Phew! I'm sure I have left out several bits, and as I said I have forgotten the correct order, but it was fun, and improved each time we saw it - well, you can't make a journey like that and only go once, can you? If anyone wishes to add anything, please do so!

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

Thank you Liz for taking the time to post your review, much appreciated.

How did you manage to remember so much.

What a long journey you had, but it sounds as though it was worth it. Did you manage to speak to Lee?

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

Wow! I wanted detail and I got it! Thank you so much. I would have loved to have gone - but i'll cut the whining session short and say how much I enjo*** that review. I hope Lee reprises his role soon so that I can see that magical snog for myself!

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

Thanks A Liz for that fabulously funny review, I sat here smiling and could visualize it all through your eyes.
( Gosh you had a good view ) I won't be able to make it to see Lee in panto this year so every tiny snippet is pure gold.
The official reviews have been fabulous but nothing beats the in depth detail that we get from you. hehe

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

Thanks for that review, A/Liz!

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

Just seen a review for the High Wyconbe production of Snow White. Brendan Cole has been cast as "Brendan the Dancing Huntsman"! I nearly fell off my cbair kaughing at that one.

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

That's brilliant!:laughing:

Re: Snow White in Aberdeen!

So has anyone got any Christmas or New Year travel plans to see our handsome prince??
If so we would love to hear from you.