The King and Queen have a new baby and are inviting the Kingdom over to celebrate. Everyone is invited – except for Fairy Frightly who’s usually up to mischief, such as hacking the royal Facebook page.

Fairy Frightly casts her sleeping spell on the Castle out of spite – condemning Princess Bertie to a one hundred year sleep should she bump into the pointy end of a needle one day.

The Pantaloons are a Lower North Island school holiday favourite. In their 10th year they bring us a new take on the old classic, Sleeping Beauty. Their version consists of half a dozen larger than life, comical characters, fabulously cheesy dance numbers and silly songs.

Fairy Sweetheart (Carol Reed), the ‘nice’ fairy who really isn’t that nice, opens the show with a little Pantomime education for those in the audience not yet in the know. While the crowd loves their chance to boo at ‘bad’ Fairy Frightly (Jel Pollock), she seems to be the true life of the party to me.

James Barnett’s Backstreet Boys number as Prince Fabian takes out the crowd favourite moment with Sarahn Windle’s phenomenal dance moves receiving loud cheers. I may or may not have shed a tear during Princess Bertie (Brie Anglesey) and Prince Fabian’s duet of ‘Not While I’m Around’.

Transitions are a little slow and the play runs slightly long which is all a part of adjusting to a new space on tour.

King Fred (Warrick Allan) and loveable Nanny Fancy (Ingrid Corby) have a bit of a cuddle as we launch into the closing number. I hurriedly check over my notes as I’m sure there was a Queen mentioned when Princess Bertie was a baby. What happened over the past 20 years? Spill the tea, Pantaloons!

Luna Rama (aged 6):

The King didn’t invite the bad fairy to the princess’s birthday party. The bad fairy came anyway and put a spell on Princess Bertie. She would sleep for 100 years if she pricked her finger on a needle. After the bad fairy cast the spell she ran back to her house with an evil laugh. The King asked Fairy Sweetheart to help. Fairy Sweetheart changed the spell so that Princess Bertie could be saved by a Prince’s kiss.

I like the part where he kissed Princess Bertie and the part where they got scared by a ghost. It was funny. Princess Bertie said “We’ll always be friends” to Fabian and that was really nice. How was Princess Bertie in the stroller as a baby at the beginning? How were the arms moving? 

Dev Rama (aged 4):

Princess Bertie fell into a deep sleep because she touched a sharp needle. I liked the big baby. I liked that the black fairy wasn’t invited to the birthday party because she was scary. I liked the cake that they had for the party. I liked the dancing and the singing. There was a dragon. His name was Spike. I liked him.

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