Cinderella

Tivoli Theatre, Dublin

****

The Cheerios panto is as traditional as it comes, but Alan Hughes as Sammy Sausages and his fellow cast members - including Niamh Kavanagh as the wicked stepmother, Rob Murphy as ugly sister Buffy and Rory Cowan as even uglier sister Barby - bring plenty of flair and humour to Cinderella.

Thanks to Pharrell Williams, Sammy has the perfect panto song to perform in Happy. He deploys it early in the show, getting kids and parents quickly into the groove. The other big anthem, Let It Go from Disney's Frozen, is given a showstopping delivery by Molly Lynch as Cinders . It might have been 20 years since Kavanagh won the Eurovision, but she's still in fine voice, showing her vocal power in an earthy rendition of When You're Good to Mama, from the musical Chicago. Kavanagh is supposed to be evil, but she's too darned likeable to be scary - not even the two-year-olds in the audience are frightened.

Rory Cowan makes the most of his panto debut, going totally OTT on the gaudy drag. He’s practically the straight man, though, to Rob Murphy’s Buffy. “I love de daddies,” announces Buffy, eyeing up the worried-looking fathers in the front row. Sean Carey channels his inner Jim Carrey as Prince Charming’s manservant Dandini.

Writer Karl Broderick hasn’t gone overboard on references to current affairs; there’s a couple of gags about Joan Burton and Angela Merkel, and a few “oo-er, missus” moments, but the main focus is on the personalities onstage.

To stage Cinderella with all the accessories might break the budget, so any golden, pumpkin-shaped carriages remain firmly offstage, but Cinders’ sudden onstage transformation from dowdy servant to queen of the ball is a little flash of magic.

There’s an intimate atmosphere to the Tivoli that will make families feel right at home, although when Buffy starts hauling “de daddies” up on stage to join in a dance routine, many will probably wish they were at home.

Kevin Courtney