Cinderella Panto Launch At Nottingham Theatre Royal

Photo © Nottingham Confidential

As make-believe snow softly billowed out into the July sunshine and Tony and Poe the uber-cute Shetland ponies patiently shook their wee manes and tails, Inside Soap Sexiest Male Award-winner John Partridge and Three Degree Sheila Ferguson's fairytale carriage also awaited for the launch of Cinderella, this year's panto at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham.

This was pantomime pretty much at its purest, and you could taste the glitzy razzle-dazzle in the air (mixed with snowflakes in our hair) in the genuinely fun and funny (very pre) panto atmosphere at Nottingham's Theatre Royal, with two big and beautiful showbiz personalities expertly getting us into an early Christmas spirit and holding the launch audience entertainingly and comfortably in the palm of their hands.

"I'm playing the Fairy Godmother and what I like to bring to it is the American street cred, because the kids seem to really identify with the African-Americanisms, if you know what I mean, not trashy, but the slang they hear on TV, they relate to it and can identify with the story much more than (puts on simpering voice) 'ooh, yes children!' They don't want to hear that, they hear that at school!" laughs pop legend Sheila Ferguson who also told us a secret confidentially which you can watch in the video below.

With fan-mobbing and special signings at the stage door for his performances, it's no secret that John Partridge is universally fancied as a leading man in many West End musicals as well as for playing Christian Clarke in EastEnders. But what we really wanted, was for him to tell us a secret, confidentially.

"My secret is...I love bagpipe music. I do! I think it's patriotic and I'm a romantic and there's something very Braveheart about it for me, my father's Scottish and it conjures up all sorts of images of the past, all the history and patriotism and champions. I used to Scottish dance, I wore the outfit." So. John Partridge in a kilt, we'll leave that image with you, confidentially...

"I was last in Nottingham with Miss Saigon in 2005, it was very different then, before the trams and I had a brilliant time, I was here four weeks and I had an amazing time, I was out every night, I never saw any trouble, I never had any trouble. Everywhere's got a rap, you know, everywhere's got good bits and bad bits and good sides and bad sides and I'm really looking forward to being here again."

Photo © Nottingham Confidential

Cinderella will be running from December 8- January 13 with John playing Prince Charming and he's used to long runs in the West End, but with that special energy that panto needs, how does he keep each performance fresh? "You know, that tends to take care of itself, you can't try to keep something fresh, I try not to recreate the same thing every night because each show has to have a rhythm and an energy of its own and it does anyway, and if you try to recreate what you had the show before, it's never going to be a good show because you can never capture those moments. Otherwise, it becomes two dimensional and something that's very difficult to find truth in. And with any show, play or fairytale, you have to have elements of truth in that. Audience participation helps but it's not a free-for-all, you're still having to direct an audience and invite them to participate, to laugh at some moments and not at others because even in something like Cinderella, there is an element of love and loss and you want everyone to feel all those emotions so they have the best experience. You don't just want them shouting all the time 'Oooh John, take your top off!'

With promises of an animatronic horse flying with its coach over the audience taking Cinderella to the ball whilst Sheila Ferguson belts out a big number, confidentially, we can feel it in our decorations in the attic that this panto is going to be an extra-fabulous one. Christmas can't come soon enough, and not just for us, tickets for the show are selling faster than this time last year already!

You can check out lots more photos of the event on our Facebook page here

Cinderella is at Nottingham Theatre Royal 8 December to 13 January. You can find out more about the show as well as ticket prices and bookings at www.trch.co.uk