PANTO lovers both young and old were in for a treat when Stageworks Worldwide Productions returned for a second year to King George's Hall, Blackburn, this year with Dick Whittington.

The show stars a familiar voice to many, BBC Radio Lancashire's Sally Naden, as the Fairy Godmother, with Ashley Morton as baddie King Rat and Phil Walker as Idle Jack.

We sent reporter Angela Zigler and her nine-year-old daughter Heather to see what it was like.

FIRST nights are always a bit slow-going and the first evening performance of Dick Whittington was no exception.

The first half lacked atmosphere to the point where there was only one opportunity for the usual "He's behind you" audience participation.

But I was glad I sat through it because the second half more than made up for it. Packed with slapstick gags, beautiful singing and plenty of booing and hissing at baddies, it ensured everyone went home more than satisfied.

Hilarious Phil Walker as Idle Jack was undoubtedly the star of the show, having the audience eating out of his comedy hand. He managed to turn an interlude where some young singers were invited onto the stage for prizes into one of the funniest sections of the show.

There was plenty of audience participation, with the first few rows getting showered with gifts -- and plenty more. Let's just say that Jack and Frankie Whittle, as The Dame, can handle a mean water pistol. Nikita Scott as Alice was not only stunning but sang beautifully too.

Ashley Morton as King Rat quickly became the baddie we all loved to hate, with a fantastic costume and stage presence to match. By the time he was dispatched by Dick (Ian Oswald) I was quite sorry to see him go.

Lighting and costumes were excellent, while relatively slick scene changes meant there were no real lulls in the action.

Management said they had put money into the UV underwater scene -- and it showed, making it certainly the highlight of the show for me. You may wonder what an underwater scene has to do with Dick Whittington and the streets of London but, believe me, it is well worth a look.

The dancers were also foot perfect and their choreography was spot-on. It may have had a slow start, but there was no doubt about it -- Stageworks have another winner on their hands.

ANGELA ZIGLER

Underwater spectacular

THE best bit was when it went all dark and they were under the sea and everything was lit up. It looked really cool because of the green bits that looked like fire but were meant to be seaweed at the side of the stage.

My favourite character was Idle Jack because he was very funny. Sarah the Cook was funny too.

The bit when Jack brought the boys and girls on the stage was really funny because he kept saying "Pockets" to the boy and everyone laughed. My little brother Luke liked that bit too when we sang "Wiggly Woo."

The people changing the scenes were very quick at it. I liked Tommy the Cat because he was realistic and I liked joining in with all the singing and clapping. It was funny too when they got out the big water pistols to splash the audience, but we didn't get wet.

HEATHER ZIGLER