Soap Stars in Panto

[faceless]

City centre Scrooge Shane
Dianne Bourne
4/12/2007

SHANE Richie is clearing his throat for a round of 'bah, humbugs' in Manchester this Christmas. The former EastEnders star Shane plays festive misery-guts Ebenezer Scrooge in the stage musical of the classic Charles Dickens tale.

The show, produced by theatre impresario Bill Kenwright, will call at Manchester's Palace Theatre until January 12. And it will bring Shane back for his third working stint in the city in the past year. He won rave reviews starring in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at The Palace in March, and also filmed ITV drama The Good Samaritan in the city.

Shane, who won millions of fans as EastEnders' Alfie Moon, wed his long-term girlfriend Christie Goddard at a star-studded ceremony in Beaconsfield earlier this year

----------------------

If you see any other important news stories about soap stars in panto, post them up!

[Aja]

I really miss Pantos .....would love to be able to take the kids .....Heres One at the Place I used to go to all the time ....

[eefanincan]

Looks like a good show Aja. Snow White was always one of my favourites, so it would be neat to be able to see this.

[11antoniacourt]

[thatcomedian]

[faceless]

it's basically just a play that's camped up and contemporised antonia. There's usually a lot of laughs and audience interaction. It's great fun as a kid with everyone booing and hissing the baddies and cheering the heroes.

[Twirley]

[11antoniacourt]

Thanks all. the wiki page explains a lot, and it explains why I always think of pantomime when I heard Panto.

[faceless]

Corrie's Cilla is Dartford's panto baddie

SOAP fans in Shopper Land will undoubtedly agree, there are few actresses who are more suitable than Coronation Street's Cilla Battersby-Brown (Wendi Peters) for the role of Wicked Queen in Snow White. She deliberately upset more than a few apple carts during her time on The Street, so who better to dish out the bad apples at The Orchard Theatre's panto this Christmas?

With Janice Dickinson still recovering from her stint in the Jungle, Wendi is easily the most inspired choice on the casting front. And she's delighted to be swapping her fishnets and stilettos for something much more wicked. "Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without panto. It's good family entertainment and the kids will love it. We don't mind if there are three-year-olds running around the aisles, it's all part of the fun," she says.

What we really want to know is how much Cilla will inspire her new role? She said: "There might be a little bit of Cilla creeping in, but I won't be playing her like Cilla. She will be the standard wicked queen. She is going to be really nasty, the more wicked the better. In fact I want the audience to really hate her and throw things at her."

Sounds exactly like Cilla, don't you think? But we'll take Wendi's word for it. "I'm a bit worried I'm being typecast," she added. "Cilla's relationship with Chesney is very similar to the Queen's with Snow White. It's going to be great fun being nasty. Everyone loves playing a baddie. I'm just going to be booed all Christmas."

Coming back to panto after a 10-year break, Wendi says the show is a welcome return to the theatre for her. In fact she's missed the stage. "I'm really looking forward to coming back to Dartford she toured there back in 1994 and really getting back to my roots. I've done a lot of theatre in the past and been doing television for the past four years and even for a while before that. So it's going to be nice to get back on the stage with a live audience and just entertain and make a great show."

Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs. The Orchard, Dartford. December 7 to January 13. Box office 01322 2200

[faceless]

[thatcomedian]

[thatcomedian]

[thatcomedian]

[faceless]

Nick Cotton playing a baddie? brilliant!

[thatcomedian]

http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/Peter-Pan39s-magic-to-.3494232.jp