The pantomime season in Limerick is well served by Snowwhite.com, which stirs some modern touches into the traditional brew of story and song. Mike Finn's script is lively and funny, a solid base for the general cavortings, and is fully exploited by a talented cast.
The title is explained by the Evil Queen's website, mirrormirror.com, in which she regularly checks on her beauty status - and always gets a deflating reply. She has some good quips on the lines of "there are no strangers, only enemies who have never met". There is a hilarious running gag that everyone has a go at sooner or later, and she (Mary Harvey) gets her share.
The Seven Dwarfs also get a lot of the good stuff, speaking their clipped dialogue Yankee-style as they clump around on shoe-attached knees. One of them is very tall, an oddity caused by an accident involving a steamroller - but that's a long story. The tall one doubles as the queen's hairdresser, Mauraceeee De Plonker (Jim Moloney); waste not, want not.
Denise Broderick is a sweet-voiced, fetching Snow White, here rescued from death by Sidney Squeamish, an arrant coward redeemed by love. Ian McGlynn manages to pack high comedy and romance into his dual mandate. Low comedy is provided by Gene Rooney as his mother, and John Butler is an affable king.
Large numbers of children and teenagers get in on the singing/dancing action, well choreographed by Susan Ryan, and Richie Ryan's direction moves it all rapidly along to a toe-tapping finale. A good one.
Plays until Sunday (to book, phone 061-319866)