Most everyone is probably going to panto at some time and so don't want any spoilers - but there are a few of us who will not make it and really don't fancy waiting till January for reviews and photos.

So, opening this up in case anyone feels like sharing . . . pretty please?

poor Lee it looks as if no one has been to see panto this year

Eagerly awaiting reviews of the panto from the lucky people
that have seen it so far, I am hoping to go very soon.

Ro has done a preliminary review on her Timeline page. It sounds
brilliant.

Oh yes we did Joan!
Was hoping someone more observant than me was going to do a write up but as that has not happened so far here goes.
I went on my own to see panto on Thursday night.
My traveling companion went to a gig at The Sherman.
Arrived at the rather quaint old Theatre and enjo*** the pre show hubbub. Lots of excited children in the audience.
Have realized that I haven't time to do this review properly so will just concentrate on the Lee part!
He bounded on stage looking confident and gorgeous and sang a good rendition of "Happy" For the role he had to assume a posh voice which he carried off very well.His swagger on stage reminded me of the way he performed on "Any Dream Will Do" He had quite a lot of lines and seemed to remember them all.The audience were appreciative and the children parti****ted well.
I am pleased to say that it was a pantomime aimed at children. You would expect no more with Lee taking part.
There were more songs including "Any Dream Will Do" and an Olly Murs one. At the very end of the Pantomime there was a slapstick routine which Lee was a part of. His timing was good. I think that appearing in Pantomime has been good for him. He obviously enjoys the comraderie and seems to fit in well where ever he appears.
I had a great night. Sorry no pictures and didn't wait by the Stage Door.
Please excuse any spelling mistakes.
No idea why some of my word include asterisks!

"Dance with me tonight"was the Olly Murs song Lee performed with lots of dancing around. A very enjoyable number.

Oh Thanks Ingrid.
It sounds as if it is a real family panto.
Lee's comic timing has always been spot on.
I think you are right about Panto suiting his strengths

Hi ladies
Thank you Ingrid for your lovely review.
Apologies for doing such a late review but we have a new baby girl that I just can't put down and the Aussie son flew in from Sydney on Thursday, so you can imagine I have been a bit distracted this week !!
Together with my WJ gang we had a great weekend in Cardiff last week and were lucky enough to see the first few shows. I am going to give details, so if you don't want to know anything if you are going at a later date, please don't read on.
There were a few details we felt could have been better but Lee was beyond fabulous. I feel I should be honest and tell you the things I didn't much like and although I know my mates agreed with me this is just my own opinion on here. As I say, please don't read if you don't want to know.

It was a great traditional Panto in the true sense of the word. We have been spoilt in Southampton and Plymouth with very high tec productions but Cardiff served up a lovely simple, no 3D spiders, no frills, jolly family entertainment.
Right from the very first one on the Saturday afternoon it was packed with loads of very excited children which was lovely. Lots were dressed as fairies or princesses or pirates etc which added to the joy.
It seemed quite a while until our man made his entrance and I reverted to 4 years old and kept muttering to Joem, "how much longer, how much longer". LOL. Sorry Joem, hug. At last Buttons made a big deal of yelling "Prince Charming is here" and the usual butterflies in our tummies started and then...nothing....no entrance. Since the early Jo days, until he came down in the mist, I never really settle until he is right THERE. Joem and I gripped each others hands and stopped breathing. Buttons yelled again and suddenly there he was. It was all part of the act but we may be the wrong side of 40 to cope with frights like that, lol. The next two shows didn't faze us at all as we knew what to expect.
He bounced on stage looking SO beautiful in his Royal blue cloak which he swished with abandon and got a huge cheer from the audience. From the start he was totally in control. He used his Lord Arthur Voice which I love. Very posh and very controlling, faint. He was so confident and the experience of the last two panto's shone through. He WAS Prince Charming and we all knew it. He was word perfect and used the stage fully, sweeping and swooshing around. I was quite sure he was in love with Cinders right from the off. She was a lovely Welsh girl with a soft accent and did very well indeed for her first role. She gets two smackers on the lips during the show and lots of cuddles and hugs. I presume she also gets paid every month,lol.
The costumes were fabulous. The Fairy Godmother's dress was a little girl's dream (and some WJ girls) and it caught the lights and sparkled all the way through the show.Magic.
Lee sang his sons very well of course although we did think they had missed a trick by not show casing his beautiful voice like they did in the last two panto's. Southampton in particular, with Julian on the trapeze singing "My Heart Will Go On" was such a stunning thing we have never got over it. The audience around us in S/hampton were all saying "Gosh what a wonderful voice that Lee Mead has got". Cardiff could have perhaps given him a bit more special singing time. But that's a minor point.
He seemed so happy ladies. He was enjoying himself so much and it shone through.

The only bits I didn't like and as I said, this is just my own opinion, was firstly the (very funny) ugly sisters catchphrase all the way through was "Shut your Face" which they obviously kept yelling at the audience. This was a panto just for children who would pick up on this. I'm going to sound awful now but if my grandson had been there he would have picked up on it as he's so young and used it. I dread to think what his parents would have done if he'd told certain family members to shut their faces. Those of you who know about my DIL's family will understand,lol. It's a minor point but I wish they had picked something more suitable for children to shriek back.

Secondly, Buttons had a scene where he turns into a Fire eater !!!! Yes, a real fire eater, including running his flaming torch up and down his arm before eating the flames. The Fairy Godmother encourages him and gives a very quick caution to the children "don't do this at home" which Buttons then says "or wait until your parents go out" !!!!!. That scene should be taken out and I feel safe in saying all my mates agreed with me. I once treated a girl who was a fire eater with the Circus and she had very severe facial burns and I've never forgotten her.
Please don't yell at me. I feel if I do a review I should be honest and tell you as much as I can.

Gareth Edwards did his best but won't be appearing in Stratford doing Shakespeare any time soon. That said he was having such fun and the local audience roared every time he came on stage. If you are in Wales and a Welsh rugby legend is around it will take the roof off the venue. Perhaps we ladies could have done without the strip on stage down to his Red Dragon boxer's but our eyes were on Charmers to the left of the stage and wishing naughtily that it was him centre stage for that little bit of script.

The slapstick at the end was the funniest I have ever seen It was such a thrill and...big spoiler coming up... not only is Lee in it big time but he's nicked the feather duster that plays such a part in MM. Those of you that read WJ will understand the hysteria in our ranks when he appeared on stage flashing it around.
There was also a line about "if you go to Barry you will never go back". Again that caused hysterics after our experiences in Barry a few years ago. lol.

It was a wonderful Panto. Try your best to see it if possible ladies. Our man seems so very happy and in such a good place.
When we got back to our hotel for our after show party we found the North Wales Rugby Choir were staying and following a performance earlier, they were now in the bar singing and singing mostly in Welsh. For us. For free. Oh, it was simply wonderful and they even took requests, Bread of Heaven etc. They outsta*** us as we crept up to bed at about 2am and they were still going til 3am. We are usually the last to hit the sack at any Meady party but they beat us, lol.
As always it was so lovely to meet up with everyone. It all went by too quickly of course. Hope to see everyone again at the last weekend.
I dare not preview this as recently that just wipes it all so I will just press send and keep my fingers crossed.
Happy Christmas girls and hears to another Meady New Year xxx

Thank you Ingrid and SueC for your lovely reviews, very
much appreciated.

It's nice to see how happy Lee is lately, he was so relaxed and
full of beans at his Christmas concert at the Garrick, he so deserves every
happiness especially after what he must gave gone through in his
personal life recently, lovely to see him bouncing back.

Hoping to get to the panto soon.

maggiemay

Thanks for the reviews, ladies!

That fire-eating scene and Buttons' line do sound like a strange inclusion - I'm surprised they didn't realise how irresponsible that scene/line is!

Incidentally, what song do Prince Charming and Cinders sing together?

Sorry Johartuk. That song was that was sung by Cinderella and Lee was the least memorable to me.
I also fully agree with the comments about "shut your face" and the Fire eating.

A young lady who is a volunteer usher at New Theatre Cardiff, has
posted a lovely review of Cinderella. She has posted the link to
it on her twitter page today @claireydelune. Perhaps someone could
post the link on here as it is a lovely read.

I think this is the one you mean Maggiemay - it's a fun review!

http://clairedoesculturedstuff.tumblr.com/post/105831715196/cinderella-new-theatre-cardiff

And here's another good review from the Cardiff Times:

http://cardiff-times.co.uk/cinderella-not-your-run-of-the-mill-panto/

Thanks Greycat

Thanks for the lovely long reviews Ingrid & Sue. It sounds as if our Prince Charming is having a great time in his latest panto.
I agree with the comments about the fire-eating & the 'catch-phrase'.
Thanks for the links to the reviews Greycat. I love the blog. I think she's smitten - like the rest of us!!!!!

I love reading everyone's reviews. thank you
I didn't think that I would make it to panto this time but thanks to the lovely friends that I sta*** with over Christmas I got to see it on Saturday evening.

On Christmas eve we made our way to spend Christmas with our friend & her lovely mum.
On Xmas day she gave us all a scroll announcing that we were all invited to see prince charming in Cardiff
this was her xmas prezzie to us all.

So we set off to Cardiff on Saturday 27th Dec with sweet anti****tion.
When we got there we found out that Gareth would not be performing.
It turns out that he is in hospital very ill with pneumonia.
I am sure that we all wish him better soon
The understudy that pla*** Dandini was very good.
Although I suspect that the script had been changed to take out the rugby jokes & he didn't sing " I'm Sexy" as I heard Gareth did

I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Prince Charming was on stage much more than I thought he would be.
It certainly isn't you cheesy run of the mill panto. Even though it doesn't have the special effects & tricks of Lee's previous two panto's

Linda Lusadi hit just the right note as fairy godmother. She had some very funny lines & as she wafted through the air on a big silver cloud I had "wicked" memories.

Cinders was lovely.

Can you all tell that I really loved my trip to panto land?

Meant to do this before but Christmas got in the way. Plus we have a new little grandaughter and he daddy has been in hospital (we still dont know what is wrong) so just a few memory's of this years Panto.

On the first visit Sunday after opening night went with two fellow fans. We satarted very early and decided to make our way to the Theatre to see if we could catch a glimps of the main attraction. We were getting a bit cold and wet when Gareth Jones came along and asked if we would like to wait inside of course we said yes !!! Lee came along soon after and we were able to have a little chatHe is picking up a bit of Welsh as he called me "my lovely" which is a real Cardiff expression my brother in law(from Cardiff) uses it all the time
About the Panto. Not as good as the last two I must admit although could you have a better casting for Prince Charming than our very own Prince Charming. Not keen at all with the "ugly sisters" not very funny in my opinion it all seemed a bit strained when they were on. dont know who they were aiming at it was a trifle "laverterial" and did not seem to invole the youngsters enough. The comedian (dont know his name tried hard but was no Bobby Davro. The Welsh audience loved Gareth Jones and the little Cinderella was sweet even if she did sound like Stacy from Gavin @ Stacy
The costumes were lovely especially the Princes and Lee's wonderfull smile which he never seems to loose made it all worthwhile.

Went once again on 23 Dec. took my grandson Zack 5. to his first Panto, Lee had said to bring him round before the show and he would say hello but unfortunatly the train was very late getting in an we had to dash inside.
Zack seemed to enjoy it difficult to tell with kids I think he was a bit bewildered. Gareth Jones did not appear apparently he is ill so his understudy pla*** the part which was hard for the poor chap as most of the jokes were Gareth based.
We went to the stage door afterwards and explained what hhad happened and Lee vert kindly came down and posed for a photo with Zack. It is here on the Forum somewhere Dear Lee he really is a special fella
I am going to last night ,hope I have not spoiled anyone's view of the show. but it is how I felt about it.

Don't worry Maggie, it does say 'spoiler thread' so nobody should be able to complain about any secrets revealed on here. I must admit I'd rather Lee had pla*** a 'poor boy makes good' role although I'm looking very much forward to seeing him later this week. The trouble with Prince Charming is that, having seen the musical 'Into the Woods' I'm always reminded of the words of Prince Charming in that production: 'I was raised to be charming, not sincere'. And Bobby Davro is one of the rare panto performers who has actually made me laugh out loud. But just seeing Lee the Lovely will be worth the trip!

Fortunately all the tweets I have seen about the panto say
it is brilliant, looks like it has been a sell out at every performance
so far. Hoping to catch it before it finishes.

Many thanks for all your reviews ladies!

It's interesting to read a range of opinions on the panto

Thank you Ladies for your excellent reviews. I loved the panto and yes, SueC, that breath holding time until he actually appeared. By the way, the bruises have nearly gone, lol, only joking We were having hysterics during the slapstick routine, the timing was absolutely spot on, Prince Charming didn't miss a single beat with the feather duster, lol, and as for Mr Brown........!

I was not keen on the lavatorial scene with the Fairy Godmother and Ugly Sisters but I suspect a lot of little boys in the audience would have loved the naughty but funny side to it.

I can't wait to see it all again

Here's a few more reviews I've found on-line:

http://www.itsoncardiff.co.uk/Previews/index.aspx

http://www.theatre-wales.co.uk/reviews/reviews_details.asp?reviewID=3337

http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Cinderella-New-Theatre-Cardiff-review/story-25751570-detail/story.html

And more audience reviews on Trip Advisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186460-d3655248-Reviews-New_Theatre-Cardiff_Southern_Wales_Wales.html#REVIEWS

Apologies if any of these have already been posted - I'm losing track a bit!

Back from a wonderful long weekend in Cardiff, and I needn't have worried - THIS Prince Charming was both charming AND sincere! As somebody said, there is quite a long wait for his entrance but it's so worth it as he's not off stage much after that. His voice was 'posh' without being riduculous, and as somebody else has pointed out, he really can act being in love beautifully. There's one part where he's just been dancing with Cinderella and is resting his cheek against hers while she's in his arms, that melted me into a little puddle.
The rest of the cast were good, it amused me how somebody like Gareth who can't sing or dance as well as the others managed to perform a whole musical number quite competently. The fire-eating incident was irresponsible, but had to confess that I like the jazzed-up Swan Lake music they used as an accompaniment. I also liked the Fairy Godmother's song a lot. The only things I disliked were the constant toilet references, not because I'm a prude, I have a very broad mind but because all those 'poo' jokes become boring very quickly. Although panto is for the kids, and it seemed to make them giggle.
The highlight of the last night, funnily enough, wasn't down to Lee... when the sisters are tearing up Cinderella's ticket, a little girl in the audience shouted, genuinely indignant: "You're horrible"!
I think the song Lee and Holly sang was called "I Will Never Let You Down". It was catchy and I liked it.

Thanks for posting your lovely review Tanith, very much appreciated.

Love the review Tanith, especially the little girl shouting "You're horrible!"

Thanks for the name of the song - I youtubed it and it is catchy.

Still trying to catch up with everything...

Many thanks ladies, for all your reviews, photos and links...
I too, loved the panto. Especially 'Prince Charming'...
Definitely the best 'Panto Prince Charming' I have ever set eyes on!!!
(Well! I would say that wouldn't I? )

In my 'Adult Mode' though, I felt there were some parts (already described in other posts) that were a little unusual to include for a Panto where the audience was predominately children...but overall I thought it was a good production, and hope to see it again before the end of the run...

Especially 'Prince Charming'