Theatre Starz’ Aladdin – 17 January 2026, Library Theatre
Review by Claire Taranaski.
When we were recently asked to review Theatre Starz annual panto I had not come across the theatre school before but by the end of the show I had thoroughly warmed to them, not just for their fun children’s panto but for the obvious love everyone involved has for each other, not just the adults off stage for their charges, but the children for them and each other, supporting each other through the show and not prioritising their own roles above everyone else. This shows theatre Starz as a Saturday morning theatre school you will want your children to be part of and know they will be supported by doing so.
A lot of this seems down to Melodie Cole, the principal of the company, who also wrote, directed, choreographed and much more, and along with the rest of her team, brings out the best in all the children and offers this panto as a place for them all to shine, and they did.
All of the performances were lovely but my stand out was Theodore as Aladdin’s younger brother Wishee Washee. A cross between a young Bobby Ball and Outnumbered’s Ben, Theodore had amazing confident and stage presence and based on this an amazing career ahead of him in whatever form of comedy takes his choosing. On the subject of comedy, Sing Hi and Sing Lo, the comedy policemen / wheeler dealers / henchmen, played by Abigail and Isaac have a long future ahead of them as the comedy duo essential for every panto.
When you have reviewed as many pantos as I have you are put in the unusual position of being able to rank genies and “The One And Only” Shazam played by Jenson is firmly in my top two all time greats. His attitude and confidence for someone so young makes me want to have “Genies Direct” on speed dial. I’m glad he did not get in the wrong hands of Abanazer (aka Abbey National), performed by Phoebe, who offered everything you need in a classic panto baddie without making it to scary for young relatives in the audience whilst providing the first “Traitors” joke of this year’s panto season.
You can’t review a production of Aladdin without mentioning the title character and Aidan performed the role with youthful confidence and strong stage presence made me look forward to seeing what he does next. Aubrey as Princess Lotus Blossom was lovely in the role and made everyone in the audience warm to her, especially her moving performance of “Where Is Love” full of youthful vulnerability.
This is the second youth panto this winter that has done away with the traditional dame, and the adult humour that often goes with it, and it works with both Alice as Widow Twankey and and Lyla as Empress Peony, two of the older youths within the company showing off the maternal skills for their on stage children that I image they also show for the younger cast off stage too. And one of these younger cast mates, proved that the sweetest things come in the smallest packages, reminding of me the musical Annie’s Molly, supported throughout, especially in the choreography, by her cast mates and making everyone in the audience fall in love with her.
In terms of the choreography and musical numbers “Dance With me Tonight” is becoming the song of this year’s panto season and this cast had so much fun doing it, and us watching, that we got it twice and provided a fun end to an already fun show, whilst Abanezer, Hi and Lo’s rendition of “We Could Have Been Anything” proved that this is another youth company that would enjoy tacking “Bugsy Malone”. Other highlights included the flying carpet sequence and my favourite prop of the night was the light switch for the cave (all password protected caves should be fitted with one).
In summary this was not just a lovely youth panto of “Aladdin” but a showcase for why anyone looking for a supportive children’s theatre school should check out Theatre Starz.
