Regretfully, I never got to see this play live, but I still loved it on television. My mother taped "The Magic of Aladdin" when I was eight years old and my whole family watched it repeatedly until we wore the tape out in the late '90s. Though I grew up attending amateur productions and have seen several of Ross Petty's recent productions on television, this remains my favourite pantomime of all those I have encountered. I can still quote many of its jokes verbatim.
The marvellous thing about this show is that it can be appreciated on many different levels depending on one's age. As a kid, I liked the singing, dancing, physical humour and broad jokes. But as I watched it over the years, I kept discovering acting subtleties, references and innuendos that had previously gone over my head. The topical humour and eighties fashions aged, to be sure, but everything else stayed fresh.
The marvellous thing about this show is that it can be appreciated on many different levels depending on one's age. As a kid, I liked the singing, dancing, physical humour and broad jokes. But as I watched it over the years, I kept discovering acting subtleties, references and innuendos that had previously gone over my head. The topical humour and eighties fashions aged, to be sure, but everything else stayed fresh.
