By Harry Michaels and Alan McHugh with additional material by Matt Slack
Crossroads Pantomimes
Theatre Royal, Nottingham
28 November 2025–4 January 2026

There comes a price with having an in-demand star in your cast. When that star is Craig Revel Horwood, who is contracted to Strictly Come Dancing, the price is having no performances on Saturdays until this year’s television show has ended.

That means if you want to see the forthright, controversial judge playing Baroness Demonica Hardup in Cinderella on a Saturday, the only performances are on 27 December and 3 January.

But having seen Cinderella on press night at the Theatre Royal, it’s clear Revel Horwood is worth watching any afternoon or evening of the week; the show is fab-u-lous.

Obviously, Cinderella is built around Revel Horwood, who is given plenty of opportunity to show off his dancing skills and his vocal range, which is just as impressive. He dominates the stage, but not to the detriment of the other actors and dancers, who get their own chances to shine.

There are some non-traditional elements in this version of Cinderella. With Revel Horwood as Baroness Hardup, there’s no place for her husband. Two women play Cinderella’s stepsisters, Claudia and Tess Hardup. Dandini is a man, unlike the old days of thigh-slapping women taking the role. Overall, though, everything works impeccably.

One of the best contributions comes from comic Neil Hurst as Buttons. This is the first year he’s appeared in Nottingham, and it shouldn’t be the last.

He effortlessly knows how to get an audience on his side as the cheery chap who’s in love with Cinderella. He’s great with young children who go onto the stage towards the end, even though one of them is reluctant to speak.

He’s also excellent at ad libbing. One sequence with Revel Horwood, who fell to the floor after demonstrating the paso doble and couldn’t get up, raised unanticipated guffaws.

The show also enables singer Christina Bianco to unveil a wide range of impressions, including Paloma Faith, Barbra Streisand, Adele and Shakira. Yet you don’t get the feeling that the show is in any way contrived.

There are strong performances from Stephenson Ardern-Sodje (Prince Charming), Daniel Norford (Dandini), Elly Jay (Cinderella) and Britt Lenting and May Tether as Claudia and Tess.

There are so many highlights in Cinderella: the traditional “If I Were Not Upon the Stage” which becomes “If I Were Not at Hardup Hall” features the Baroness, Buttons and the two sisters performing an hilarious routine with props including a frying pan, truncheon and a water pistol; it’s slick and timed perfectly.

There’s something for everyone in Cinderella: young children were captivated by Cinderella’s coach, which soared over the first few rows of the auditorium just before the interval. There’s the usual magic and glitter that no panto can be without. And there are a few gags which only adults will get, including the baroness’s proclamation to the Prince that “I hear your balls get bigger every year.”

Cinderella isn’t a total success: I couldn’t hear the changed lyrics of “I Will Survive”, and the band, although sounding crisp and energetic, are sometimes too loud.

But Cinderella is far from a dis-as-ter, dahling. In the words of Craig Revel Horwood himself, it’s pretty a-maz-ing.

* This review originally appeared on the British Theatre Guide website