The curtain falls on Swansea Grand’s latest panto, Jack and the Beanstalk, and the atmosphere in the theatre feels like a nightclub; everyone, young and old, is on their feet dancing and the energy in the auditorium is palpable.
You get the feeling that if the music kept playing, this would turn into an intergenerational party, such is the momentum generated by a vivid and vocally fabulous performance.
But let’s begin at the very beginning, as they say.
(Image: Phil Rees) So that energy began to build with a countdown to curtain up in a theatre packed with kids, parents and grannies and grandads.
Sitting in the stalls I could see up into one of the boxes and loved watching a grey-haired granny countdown enthusiastically with her gaggle of grandkids.
The show started with the sparkly Fairy Ffion, played to perfection by Celyn Cartwright, before exploding in a burst of colour and chorus, particularly vivid pinks and blues echoed in the set and in the costumes.
(Image: Swansea Grand Theatre) The cleverly designed set used lighting to convey mood and two layers of projection to draw you in and create a 3D effect.
Firmly rooted in the local area the action takes place in Merry Mumbles where radio 2 DJ and Race Around the World winner Scott Mills is mayor.
(Image: Phil Rees) Mayor Mills has hardly enough money to keep Merry Mumbles FM going and as for his friends, Jack, Larry, Jill and Tilly, they have hardly enough money to eat.
So off to market goes Buttercup the colourful cow, who fits in with the panto’s colour palette, and back comes Jack, who loves a bit of 90s boyband music as well as Jill, with a handful of beans.
There is so much to love about this panto, from the rhyming couplets with a local feel delivered by Fairy Ffion to a host of jokes that had me laughing out loud.
Swansea grand panto favourites return in the form of Britain’s Got Talent finalist, magician and Comedian Matt Edwards, who, after sitting incognito in the audience, plays Jack’s brother Larry with an energetic combo of jokes, gestures, wacky faces and magic.
(Image: Phil Rees) Swansea Grand panto veteran, Kev Johns returns in a series of outrageous outfits as Dame Tilly Trot and she (!) and Larry bounce off each other for the whole show with great adlibbing and wicked humour.
The panto is chock full of musical masterpieces, showcasing the talent of A1 boyband star Mark Read, who plays Jack, and the rest of the cast in a series of covers and original pieces.
A shout must go out to the talented ensemble and junior ensemble who give it their all and rock through a variety of dance styles and choreography, I particularly appreciated the insect routine.
(Image: Swansea Grand Theatre) Though not in his natural surroundings, Scott Mills does a very decent job, the man can carry a tune and a gag and the script cleverly incorporated him as a DJ.
What else is there to love about this panto? The Trot’s wonky house, the audience participation, the harmonies.
Oh and the beanstalk. It would have been so easy in this age of digital wizardry to have projected a beanstalk onto the screen of the set. But no, this panto had a proper beanstalk that grew from the ground and then Jack climbed it, like really properly climbed it.
The same was true for the giant, I was expecting some technical wizardry but no, the giant, in the form of a huge puppet operated by Thomas Brackley and voiced by Andy Hockley was physically there on stage surrounded by giant furniture. I really appreciated the effort and expense of this as well as the theatricality.
(Image: Phil Rees) And while we are on the giant a shout must go out to Jo Osmond who played a great sidekick as poison Ivy.
Both the giant’s appearance and the ascent of the beanstalk were real ‘oh wow’ moments.
And the technical wizardry is put to good use to zoom in o Merry Mumbles at the start of the panto, to create ghost knights and giant spiders and to facilitate a clever chase scene as well as setting the scene with sparkles and pops of colour.
My only slight niggle was that Jill, played by a vocally lovely Christina Harris, had to be rescued by Jack from the giant’s lair. In this day and age I would love to see a panto that teaches our daughters and grandchildren that women can be strong and ingenious. Jill could easily have been part of the rescue party that liberated Buttercup from the giant.
(Image: Swansea Grand Theatre) Niggle aside, once again the Swansea Grand has delivered a giant success of a panto packed with colour, music, laughter and a fair bit of audience participation.
There is something in this to appeal to all ages in this locally-rooted clever reworking of the Jack and the Beanstalk tale.
Don’t be a has bean. This festive season, leaf your home and climb your way to the Swansea Grand for a whopper of a pantomime. In the words of Larry ‘it’s cowin’ lush’.
(Image: Swansea Grand Theatre) Jack and the Beanstalk is on at the Swansea Grand theatre until January 5.