Sleeping Beauty will be this year's panto at Theatre Severn and can you believe it, half the tickets are already sold for what looks like it will be a record-breaking year. Brad Fitt and Tommy J return along with a stella pedigree cast, many with West End performances under their belt.
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00:00Hello, Shropshire! I'm Nurse Nelly, and I'm here with a fantastic cast of Sleeping Beauty at Theatre 7.
00:09We've got such a fantastic show for you this year. Oh, straight from the West End, we've got Dionne here.
00:14She's come from Book of Mormon. We've got the gorgeous Harry playing the Prince. He was in Les Mis, you know.
00:20Bring him home! And we've got Gemma at the end there. She's been in everything in the West End, and she's playing the wicked Carabosse.
00:27And I don't know where the other one's gone. Oh, there he is, Tommy! Tommy Jett. I think he's been to the West End.
00:34Isn't that right, Tommy? Yes, that's right, Mum.
00:36Come on, book your tickets. Don't delay. Book today. We're here until January 12th. We'll see you there.
00:46Hello, folks. We're here at Theatre 7, and it's nearly that time of year, Sleeping Beauty.
00:50And we've got Bradfitt, a face that everyone in Shropshire knows surely by now.
00:5514 years, is it? It's 14 years. We've been here 14 years.
00:59I mean, it's 13 pantomimes because of that year we don't mention, the Covid years. But 14 years, but 13 pantomimes.
01:06And Paul Henney, what's your role in this, Paul? So I'm the producer and the writer of the pantomimes.
01:12And just like Brad, I'd never seen him before. Yeah, just like Brad, we've been here 14 years and I'm a local lad.
01:21So for me, I'm from Telford. I dreamt of producing at this theatre and it's such a great theatre.
01:27It's a real pleasure to be here, isn't it? So you've done a bit of TV work in the past, haven't you?
01:32That's where I know you're much from. And how does it compare in the world of theatre then? Which is the best?
01:38Do you know what? I'm going to say theatre and in particular pantomime because the reaction is immediate.
01:44Sometimes when you do television work, you have to wait until that television programme goes out to see whether it was any good.
01:49Whereas in pantomime, you say a joke and you know straight away whether it's good.
01:54And luckily with people like Brad, it is always good. I'm working with some fantastic cast members.
01:59We've got Ex-Lame Me's. We have. Paul and Emily of Evolution Pantomimes have brought an amazing West End cast to the stage this year for Sleeping Beauty.
02:08We've got a fantastic lady called Dionne who's in Book of Mormon at the moment.
02:13She's playing our fairy. We've got Gemma who's playing the evil cannibal.
02:17There's not a show. It'd be easier to list the shows she hasn't been in.
02:20She's been in everything.
02:21Yeah, she's been in everything. And Harry, a gorgeous prince who's just straight hot putting it from Les Mis.
02:27And I've got Tommy J coming back as well. Tommy Rolison.
02:30Who?
02:31Tommy.
02:32I don't remember him.
02:33I don't remember him, yeah.
02:35Check billing. And people need to get a skate on and get a ticket, don't they?
02:40Because a little bird tells me over 50% sold already. I mean, this is July. What's going on?
02:45People come out. What's nice is at the end of the show I go out quite often to see people and you see people queuing up to buy the tickets for the following year.
02:53They've had such a good time.
02:54They want the seats, don't they?
02:56They want the same seats.
02:57The men want to be picked on. That's the thing.
02:59But we've sold over 50%. I think last year we sold just shy of...
03:03Nearly 45,000.
03:04Wow.
03:05Which is incredible. It really is. And I think we're on track to beat that record.
03:10That was a record and we're on track to beat that record. So yeah, if you're going to come and see them, please do. You've got to book early.