Dick Whittington, London Palladium 2017

I don't remember it either.I must have been too busy looking at Dick at the time.

charlie isn't gay...

That's how I read it too, it's a panto and while they did blur the lines between panto and real life (referring to Elaine's songs and radio show and Charlie's past and future shows) I don't think we can take anything they said as fact!

Cheeky plug - there's a pair of front row tickets I now can't use for Sunday evening's show on Noticeboard, half-price... bargain!

Young Charlie's sexuality is nobody's business but his own, especially in the UK in 2018, but what I do know is that when I was waiting for his autograph outside the Noel Coward in the summer, his girlfriend was also waiting, along with her parents and grandparents, who had all been to see Half a Sixpence. In the case of the latter, it was the first time Charlie had ever met them.

Thoroughly entertaining afternoon. Show stop for nearly 20 minutes after In The Navy, not sure why.

Didn't see last year's so can't compare but thought it felt very fresh and "properly done", which makes a delightful change from other pantos I've seen of late.

Edit: My point has been covered elsewhere. Ignore moi!!

Reminds me of when Alan Bennett claimed that he had been outed as straight after the press revealed that he’d been having a long term relationship with ‘Cafe Anne’ oop north! Everyone had always assumed he was gay (he is now, with Rupert) so it was quite a shock when that one came out! His sexuality often confused his fellow actors apparently. An Independent article stated:

When asked once by the actor Sir Ian McKellen at an Aids benefit whether he was heterosexual or homosexual, Bennett replied: "That's a bit like asking a man crawling across the Sahara whether he would prefer Perrier or Malvern water."

As for Charlie, who cares? If he’s making some lovely lass happy, good on him. If it’s a lovely lad, that’s good too. (I have read it’s a lass (alas... 😥) 😂.

Does anyone know if the actors come out the stage door after evening performances? I seem to remember reading there were signs up for Cinderella saying the cast weren’t allowed to stop for photos and autographs and I wondered if this was the same this time?

I echo the thoughts I read on another thread about how Peter Pan isn't necessarily the best story with which to do a pano. Think someone said it's plot-heavy and I would agree. There are a lot of 'straight' roles I would have thought, so not much for the variety show style pantos these productions seem to be. Though I could obviously be very wrong.

I think that there are a lot of lower-hanging fruit before you'd put on Peter Pan - try Snow White, Aladdin (though might be a bit difficult with Prince Edward theatre not far away), Jack and the Beanstalk first.

It could definitely MayBe Peter Pan, probably.

It depends. Different at each performance. Most often Charlie, Emma, Gary and Diversity exit through stage door. The others eg Elaine and Julian often take another exit.