Great local jokes, beautiful sets and costumes

TUESDAY, DEC. 11: This year’s pantomime is a musical riddled with Bermudian jokes, colourful costumes, beautiful music and endless laughs.

The Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society’s version of the popular musical Aladdin is on until the end of the week at City Hall.

I went to watch the performance on Monday night with my four-year-old son and my boyfriend.

Having been to last year’s Panto, Cinderella, I knew what to expect.

But this year, I was far more excited because I love Aladdin, I always have, and I wanted to see what Will Kempe would bring to the stage.

Aladdin opened with Abanazer — played by Kempe — entering the theatre and walking to the stage to introduce himself.

He told the audience he is from the Cayman Islands and says: “In Cayman, we have so much more. So many more tourists.”

The audience erupts in laughter as he continues to tell jokes with references to both Bermuda and Cayman.

But soon, Abanazer is off the stage and the story of Aladdin and Princess Li-Chee begins.

Aladdin is the son of Widow Twankey, a washerwoman who falls in love with Princess Li-Chee, the daughter of Emperor Sang Wun Song.

The problem is he can’t look at her because he is a commoner and can’t marry her because he has no money.

But his problems look to be over when he finds an old lamp on a dark cave, as summoned by Abanazer and a genie pops out.

Without giving too much away, there is plenty of song and dance throughout the whole play.

The costumes are bright, colourful and Asian inspired.

And the set is gorgeous. Every scene is painted beautifully with bright colours, glitter and sparkles.

There are also the jokes. Election jokes, jokes about Whites’ shutting down and even Ewart Brown jokes.

While some of them go over the children’s heads, the adults quite enjoyed them.

One highlight of the play was a quick burst of dance and song to Psy’s Gangnam Style, but instead, it’s Panto Style.

The audience sang along and my son clapped, sang and smiled throughout the short performance.

Santa appeared at the intermission to give out candy, something kids look forward to every year.

As far as the actors go, Kempe was brilliant as Abanazer, a true bad guy, performed with such gusto.

George Morton was a charming Aladdin and Julia Frith was a lovely, gracious princess Li-Chee.

Latisha Lister as Genie was an excellent choice with her sass and Bermudian accent when necessary.

Widow Twankey probably couldn’t have been portrayed by anyone else other than Alan Brooks. He was excellent and became the character.

My only complaint of the Panto was that it was very long.

It started at 7:30pm and the intermission didn’t come until 8:50pm.

The second half started at 9:10pm and it didn’t finish until 10pm.

Other than that, the Panto was excellent. If you haven’t seen it, take your kids and you will be guaranteed an entertaining evening filled with laughter.