FILLING in his checklist, Ofpants, the official panto watchdog, noted the RSAMD's change of name to Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

He was pleased to find, however, that there had been no change in the panto writing and directing team of Alan McHugh and Alasdair Hawthorn, a duo who know their onions and a host of tasty ways to cook them into fresh versions of traditional gambits.

The watchdog did wonder why – when Aladdin is such a well-known story – this panto needed not one but two Narrators. But from the moment Ruby Richardson and Eve Ponsonby bounced on, fast-talking live wires who niftily finished off each others rhymes but never cut across one another's punchlines, he was sold on them and their linking material. As events unfolded, he warmed to the camp villainy of Abanazar (Chris Fulton) though his evil swishiness was overtaken by the "so pleased to be me" presence of a green Genie whose time inside the lamp had been spent learning the tricks of the Broadway trade – Brian Fisher delivered the goods with a stylishy knowing twinkle. Actually, any Broadway babe would have felt right at home in the song and dance numbers that added oomph and humour to the notion of "routine". Wishee-Washee (Ross Mann) and So-Shy who's no-shy (Bobby Rainsbury) found countless ways to go "Wow!'"in a hilarous frenzy of mutual attraction while Mark Rowley's Dame did a more than decent job as the big wummin with loads of laughter lines. And if, at times, not everyone seemed to get the panto mindset and its specific ways, this Aladdin didn't short-change its audience in terms of entertainment.

HHH