Ref knocked out at match
A SENSATIONAL, budget-busting campfest of questionable taste and lavish excess... and that was just Julian Clary’s outfits in Cinderella.
But he deserved a wardrobe fit for a king of innuendo, and entirely lived up to that reputation in the West End’s biggest panto.
It includes an impressive collection of celebrities – Paul O’Grady, Amanda Holden, Nigel Havers and Lee Mead – as did the audience at this week’s opening night, among them Sir Cliff Richard and Andrew Lloyd Webber. But Clary’s Dandini did not tone down the double entendres. On his return from the woods, Prince Charming asked: “Did you find the gypsies’ camp?” “Yes, one or two,” Dandini replied.
Yet the gags are so outrageous, they go over the heads of children. Clary even came close to stealing the limelight from grand panto dame O’Grady; some feat, given he was at his seething, sadistic best as Baroness Hardup.
The rest of the cast, including Mead as Prince Charming and Natasha J Barnes as Cinders, largely played second fiddle.
Still, Holden was a sterling Fairy Godmother, America’s Got Talent winner and ventriloquist Paul Zerdin was a perfect Buttons, and Nigel Havers was hilarious as the ambitious Lord Chamberlain. Only the staging itself could rival the casting – it featured opulent sets and the craziest OTT costumes. This is a turbo-charged panto of epic proportions – oh yes it is! Cinderella runs to January 15. See www.reallyusefultheatres.co.uk A REFEREE was knocked unconscious while issuing a red card at a football match.
Henry Ifesi, 47, was allegedly assaulted for trying to prevent players using bad language and stop spectators crossing the sidelines.
He suffered a head wound, burst lip and blurred vision at the AFC Enterprise and FC Stopsley clash in Luton, Beds, last Sunday.
Mr Ifesi, a referee for 24 years, said: “The players were very abusive. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
Police are investigating. The clubs failed to comment.