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Cinderella
Derby: Assembly Rooms

09 December 2009 to 10 January 2010

Neil Morrissey ('Men Behaving Badly', 'Waterloo Road')
Kellie Bryan ('Eternal')
Simmons & Simmons
Susie Fenwick
MarkTwo
Jamie Steen
Peter Prentice
Adam Dakin
Matt Wilman
Abbie Mahala
Dan Mallinder
Adam Jenkins
Helen Ladson
Hannah Park
Alex MacMillan

Directed by Keith Simmons
Musical director Philip Shute
Choreographed by Robert Wheeler

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Reviews

An altogether joyful show

Pat Ashworth, The Stage - 15 December 2009

Panto used to be a sterile experience at the Assembly Rooms, but it's bedded down beautifully now. The venue has grown an audience that knows what to expect and can't wait for the old familiar gags… Read more...

Born to be Buttons

Nick Brunger, WhatsOnStage - 16 December 2009

Neil Morrissey puts a real zip into his Buttons as the star of this traditional pantomime offering from the Derby Assembly Rooms… Read more...

An altogether joyful show

Pat Ashworth, The Stage

15 December 2009

Panto used to be a sterile experience at the Assembly Rooms, but it's bedded down beautifully now. The venue has grown an audience that knows what to expect and can't wait for the old familiar gags.

This show gets its cohesion from being both written and directed by Keith Simmons, who also plays Baron Hardup in a cheery partnership with Ben Simmons as the Broker's Man. His mad writhing as an escapologist inside a sack typifies his daft brand of comedy and he goes down a storm here.

Led by Neil Morrissey and Kelle Bryan, the ad-libbing cast are at ease with each other and the warmth that flows from the stage is almost tangible. Morrissey throws all his energies into Buttons and his enjoyment is infectious. Bryan is a vibrant and fiesty Cinderella, and Mark Two and Jamie Steen are rough as the Ugly Sisters. They roar out 'Shut it' to the audience and live up to their self-billing as the uglies pair on the planet.

Slick choreography from Pantomime Dancers and good singing of lively numbers such as We Are Golden and I Only Wanna Be With You make this an altogether joyful show.

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Born to be Buttons

Nick Brunger, WhatsOnStage

16 December 2009

Neil Morrissey puts a real zip into his Buttons as the star of this traditional pantomime offering from the Derby Assembly Rooms.

Written by father and son duo Keith and Ben Simmons, with dad also directing, this is very familar territory with all the right ingredients to entice an appreicative family audience.

Former Eternal chart-topper Kelle Bryan makes a thoroughly old fashioned and charming Cinders. Pop star past aside, she has been building up her theatrical credentials and the show proves that not only can she act and sing but she gives the chorus a run for their money as a dancer.

The Simmon's corny script seems a little rough and ready at first, with Susie Fenwick's fairy having some particularly clumsy lines to work around, but soon won over the audience. As Baron Hardup and Brokers Man, Keith and Ben work well together, although the senior partner has the surer touch.

Mark Two and Jamie Steen make as malevolent a pair of Ugly Sisters as you could want, relishing their roles as Ravishing Rita and Wicked Wanda with Mark's wife Dee providing a stunning set of frocks.

However, it was not until Neil Morrissey appears that this show completely gels. Born to be Buttons, Neil has exactly the right combination of cheekiness, innocence and pathos to bring the part to life and he made his performance look effortless. There was just a touch of Harry Hill about his costume which only fitted where it touched but that aside this production is full of seasonal joy right up to the shower of artificial snow that drifted down on the audience as they left the foyer.

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