Milton Keynes Theatre – Cinderella review

Who doesn’t love a bit of fun and silliness over the festive season? Cinderella might be the ‘Fairy Godmother of all pantos’ but this year it has well and truly arrived at Milton Keynes Theatre, and it has fun, laughs, silliness and sparkles in abundance this year.

Legendary performer and entertainer Brian Conley takes the classic pantomime role of Buttons, and he is absolutely brilliant, as you’d expect. It’s not the first time we’ve seen him play the role in MK, a few years back he starred alongside Gok Wan in the same panto…but this year Brian is the main star, and he totally milks it. From the moment he arrives on stage, he has the audience in the palm of his hand. Funny one-liners, topical jokes and some good old slapstick comedy thrown in for good measure. He appeals to all ages, he’s equally at ease with three year old Elsie, who came up on stage…as he is with the slightly more mature Betty, who was in the front row and he had all sorts on fun and frolics with. Seriously, we dare you not to laugh, you can’t help it, he’s totally infectious and completely makes the show.

The rest of the cast is definitely in a supporting role to Brian, but they do it very well. The long list of the usual characters is all here, panto dames, Prince Charming, Dandini and of course, the beautiful Cinderella herself. Special shout out to ‘Fairy 312’ (Fairy Godmother) who is played by Lucy Conley, yes, that’s right, Brian’s daughter. She was fantastic, played the role with warmth and a real touch of humour, and it’s lovely to see them performing on stage together.

This pantomime gives you everything you want and expect; fun, laughter, song, dance, amazing costumes and sets, larger than life characters and A LOT of double entendres, and the return of Conley’s classic character ‘Dangerous Brian’ – there’s also a real WOW moment at the end of the first half, but no spoliers here. It’s all super family-friendly and we had an absolute blast…you shall ‘have’ a ball, this festive season!

Performances until Sunday 14th January.

Running time – 2 hours 15 minutes (including interval)

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