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Performance Review: Panto payback time: after two years of cancellations, the CTC is back with a bang!

★★★★★☆

Dolly Dumpling is supported by Snow White and Danny Dumpling while they are dancing

This British-style pantomime was a first for this author, and I honestly liked it.

The ingredients were all in place for a good time with your children or friends: a tale known by most with a 21st century twist, an eager-to-please troupe, a receptive audience, some good music choices and crowd-pleasing choreography.

It will bring out your inner-child, although you certainty don’t need to be a minor (or proud miner) to enjoy this classic rendition of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.

Disney reimagined
Forget the classic Disney feature movie, this ‘Snow White’ is for those who live in 2022.

Kristian Husted, the director, pledges to un-Disneyfy the tale in his program notes, and he largely succeeds, as this couldn’t be more removed from the 1930s production.

Nevertheless, there is a Disney among the dwarfs, most probably based on Doc (Emily Foate), who spends most of his time drawing. In fact, he barely speaks (surely more of a Dopey), sometimes even opting to draw noises.

Our modern-day Snow, played by Diana Moisa, has dropped the White (to sound more like a rapper, presumably) and you can forget about her whistling while she works. The poor dwarfs mine all day and then come back home and do the housework. So there’s no doubt who’s wearing the pants in this household.

And the dwarfs aren’t the only ones, as mother and son duo Dolly and Danny Dumpling (crowd favourite Ente Breed and Julian Gosiengfiao) would do anything for poor Snow.

Mining some gold-dust
Alongside Foate, who was filling in for covid-hit Alison Gregersen, Katherine Roberts as Groutchy is the standout, whether it’s acting, singing and dancing.

Together with TD (Rudy Hidding), Cheerful (Margot Hidding), Sniffly (Penelope Hidding), Snoozy (Chrisitina Johansen) and Dozy (Emma Gregersen), the show it at its strongest when the seven dwarfs are onstage.

Bar some off-key singing, the musical numbers were highly enjoyable. Antonina Pipaluke Stahnke’s choreography was perfect for the occasion.

Also worthy of praise are Black Wings (Liyang Han) and Queen Grimelza (Ugne Sabaliauskaite).

Tickets are available on the CTC website. The show is running twice a day until February 13 at Bibliokteket on Rentemestervej in Nordvest.

Whether you are new to British pantomime like me or not, I don’t think you’ll regret spending time with all these colourful characters.

Fairy Goodheart alone on stage
Fairy Goodheart (Maya Husted) tries to earn her wings by helping Snow (picture by Laura Ioana @lauraioanav)