As YouTube afficionados could have predicted, Psy and his Gangnam Style have entered the Pantosphere.
So when Wishee-Washee asks the boys and girls if they want to be in his gang, they need no coaxing whatsoever to leap up, cry Oppa! and do Psy's oddly gawky, prance-y Horse Dance.
Mighty respect to Ian 'Sheepie' Smith, the cheeky-cheery Wishee: he sustains this interaction to the very end, yomping through the moves with an enthusiasm that simply reinforces the rapport he has with his audience, whatever their age. Smith – back for a fourth year – is now a mainstay of the seasonal family fun on offer here.
Youngsters bond with his lovable galoot persona, adults appreciate the way he can nod at a saucy line without being mucky. It's a nicely balanced performance in a more than decent mix of the mandatory panto ingredients.
The song and dance routines are short and snappy, Abanazar (Oliver Patterson) has a ridiculous side to his villiany that, like the biff-bang-wallop comedy of the Peking plods – Alan Mirren and Jamie Lemetti – plays to the gleeful delight of kids who get visual tomfoolery more readily than word play. Could that be why our Dame (Mark Hudson) has almost as many costume changes as punchlines? With each frock more fantastical than the one before – and all of them awash with witty details. As for Aladdin (Martin Clark) – what a hero he turns out to be, surfing through the Pantosphere on a (cleverly contrived) magic carpet, and all for his Princess (Storm-Skyler McClure). It goes at a merry lick and is handsomely staged – so Oppa! as Psy would say.
HHH
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article