AMBITIOUS? Big time. Spectacular? Repeatedly. Enjoyable? The kids say so.
Sleeping Beauty (sort of) is a self-asserting solo run by Twink, its writer, producer and star (Pat Cowap directs). Its effect is less than the sum of its parts, but then that's one helluva sum. Combining herself, Gerry Ryan (on video only), pop group OTT, Barney and a cast of what looked like thousands in one show looks like fabulous marketing; one imagines it also kept the agents and lawyers busy.
Trashing the plot even more than the genre usually allows, this panto-plus is a series of set-pieces, with countless costumes - including some weird, dangly skin-huggers that looked like Pippin leftovers - loads of lights and surprisingly creaky sets. Last night, the special effects were a little hit- and-miss and the audio twice brought us what sounded like stage-manager's instructions.
But clearly Twink has decided it takes more than her amazing tonsils to reach the back row in the Point. Thus we get an OTT mini-gig, a Spice Girls song, a Riverdance section (with Twink herself as Jean Butler), circus acrobatics and some oversized Lloyd-Weberish musical emoting. Each segment has an obvious target audience, and all ages and both sexes are catered for.
To the delight of the younger members of the audience, Barney, TV's unbelievably popular purple dinosaur, turned up to do his thing (familiar songs included) no fewer than three times. However, at the curtain call he rather soiled his "everyone is special" image with a bit of luvvy celeb-spotting - "I see Pierce Brosnan! There's Steve from Boyzone!" - in his unctuous American twang.
My companions, who alas weren't picked out by Barney, ranged in age from four to just about-10; their comments ranged from it was brilliant" (Niamh, Kate and Jil) to "it was brilliant, there were just a couple of scary parts where you have to close your eyes" (Louie). For Louie's dad, the absence of even one decent joke made me miss Twink's Gaiety days, but if ever there was a case of "never mind the quality..."