FROM 9 DECEMBER 2016 FOR 5 WEEKS ONLY!
Cinderella, the most enchanting rags-to-riches fairy tale of them all will grace the stage of the West End’s most famous theatre this Christmas as pantomime returns to The London Palladium for the first time in nearly three decades.
Final casting just announced!
Natasha J Barnes who will play the title role of Cinderella, Suzie Chard and Wendy Somerville who will play The Wicked Stepsisters complete the casting for the London Palladium Pantomime this Christmas. They join the previously announced Paul O’Grady (The Wicked Stepmother), Julian Clary (Dandini), Amanda Holden (The Fairy Godmother), Lee Mead (Prince Charming), Paul Zerdin (Buttons), Nigel Havers (Lord Chamberlain) and Count Arthur Strong (Baron Hardup).
Natasha J Barnes – Cinderella
Natasha J Barnes is currently understudying and performing the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the Savoy Theatre which previously opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Her previous theatre credits include American Idiot at the Arts Theatre, The Boy Who Fell Into a Book for the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Chess at the Union Theatre, Snow White for the Old Vic Theatre and on tour, Lend Me a Tenor at the Gielgud Theatre, Come Dancing and I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky for Theatre Royal Stratford East and Spring Awakening at the Lyric Hammersmith and Novello Theatres. On television her credits include Doc Martin and Doctors and for BBC Radio Drama her credits include The Day I Finished Off Charlotte Brontë, The Wonderful World of Allaetitia and Alice Through the Looking Glass.
Paul O’Grady – The Wicked Stepmother
Best known as host of The Paul O’Grady Show and for helping rescue dogs in For the Love of Dogs – not to mention his acid-tongued creation Lily Savage – Paul O’Grady is returning to pantomime to play The Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella.
Julian Clary – Dandini
Julian Clary returns to pantomime having begun his career as a camp comic thirty years ago, and despite the fervent wishes of the general public shows no signs of slowing down. His TV debut came in 1989 with ITV quiz show Trick or Treat and Channel 4’s Sticky Moments. Julian Clary is a best-selling author, a regular panelist on Radio 4’s Just a Minute and is currently touring his new one man show The Joy of Mincing.
Amanda Holden – Fairy Godmother
Amanda Holden is an English television presenter, actress and singer, best known as a judge on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent since the show began in 2007. Holden has appeared in several stage musicals including playing the role of Princess Fiona in the West End premiere of Shrek and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the West End production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. As well as hosting This Morning, she has appeared in various British television series such as The Grimleys, Kiss Me Kate – a sitcom with Caroline Quentin, Hearts and Bones, Cutting It and with Harry Enfield in the comedy series Celeb.
Lee Mead – Prince Charming
Lee Mead shot to prominence after winning the BBC series ‘Any Dream Will Do’ to take the role of Joseph in the West End in 2007. After a hugely successful run of West End shows he joined the cast of Casualty as Ben ‘Lofty’ Chiltern. Throughout this time he has also toured the country with his band, released albums and enjoyed a series of highly successful pantomimes in some of the UK’s most prominent theatres. At the start of 2016 he took a break from Casualty to join a new touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the role of Caractacus Potts.
Paul Zerdin – Buttons
Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin took the US by storm when he won America’s Got Talent last year, which was swiftly followed by the opening of his own residency at the legendary Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas which opened this month. Also a household name in the UK, Zerdin has appeared on The Royal Variety Performance no less than three times and was most recently seen on Michael McIntyre’s Big Christmas Show broadcast on BBC1.
Nigel Havers – Lord Chamberlain
Nigel Havers is one of the country’s best known actors thanks to his roles in Chariots of Fire, Passage to India, Empire of The Sun, Don’t Wait Up and Man Child. More recently his credits include Coronation Street, Downton Abbey, the hit BBC4 series The Life of Rock, Stop/Start for BBC Comedy Playhouse and Benidorm. His numerous West End appearances include playing Serge in both the touring and London productions of Art. Subsequently has appeared in hugely successful touring productions of Rebecca, Alan Bennett’s Single Spies and Nick Fisher’s comedy Basket Case, as well as several sell out seasons in pantomime. Most recently Havers reprised the role of Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest both at the Harold Pinter Theatre and on UK Tour.
Count Arthur Strong – Baron Hardup
Count Arthur Strong, ‘show business legend’, raconteur and former variety star, returns to the stage he remembers so fondly. Having launched the comedy character in 1997, Steve Delaney has turned his ‘riotously funny’ creation from Edinburgh cult hit into a cornerstone of BBC comedy. Over fifty episodes of Count Arthur Strong’s Radio Show! have been produced for BBC Radio 4 and the third series of his eponymous TV sitcom returns to BBC1 this autumn.
Suzie Chard – Wicked Stepsister
Suzie Chard’s more recent theatre credits include Soho Cinders for Soho Theatre, Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be for the Union Theatre and Theatre Royal Stratford East, National Tours of Business Affairs, Stepping Out, The Tart and the Vicars Wife and Oliver and Scrooge the Musical at the Mayflower Theatre Southampton. Her pantomime credits include Mother Goose, Pinocchio, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Dick Whittington and Cinderella. Her television credits include Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher, The Comic Songbook and Rude Britannia – Bawdy Songs and Lewd Photos.
Wendy Somerville – Wicked Stepsister
Wendy Somerville’s theatre credits include The Threepenny Opera for the National Theatre, Billy Elliot The Musical at the Victoria Palace Theatre, the UK tour and West End production of Hairspray, Sleeping Beauty for Hull New Theatre and Wolverhampton Grand, Sweeney Todd for Chichester Festival Theatre and the Adelphi Theatre, Sleeping Beauty for the Theatre Royal Newcastle, Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre and Macbeth for Bitesize Theatre Company.
The most enchanting rags-to-riches fairy tale of them all graces the stage of the West End’s most famous theatre this Christmas as pantomime returns to the London Palladium for the first time in nearly 30 years.
With an all-star cast this lavish and spectacular production features sumptuous costumes, magnificent scenery and the unmissable and magical breathtaking moment when Cinderella swaps her rags for a stunning Ball gown and is transported to The Prince’s Ball.
Book your seats today, otherwise not even your Fairy Godmother will be able to magic you a ticket for London’s must-see Christmas show. Produced by Qdos Entertainment, the world’s biggest pantomime producer.
