Variety is the spice of Christmas

REVIEW by Richard Batson.

Tis the season to be jolly, and a trip to Cromer Pier at this time of year never fails to unwrap a festive treat that mingles music and magic with smiles and spectacle.

For more than two hours, showgoers escape the gloomy weather and news headlines and step into a world of comedy, colour, dance and illusion.

It opens with a merry masquerade ball and finishes with a singalong festive frolic that slaloms from ski slopes to feathery dancing girls.

In between, the action flips from rooftops and the circus to a 1950s rocking, rolling bowling alley and salty seashore, landing a catch of clap-along folk songs.

Home-grown Norfolk all-round entertainer Olly Day marks his 16th year as host with another masterful mix of comedy, magic and song with his trademark mulled wine warm rapport with the audience.

Singers are the multi-talented Robbie Waugh, who not only has a fine voice but can also play rock guitar, sax and juggle a diabolo (not all at the same time) plus the versatile Caris Kerr, who is equally at home with a soprano solo or hoofing it in a full cast dance routine.

The specialist acts are magician Danny Lee Grew, who delivers simple but bemusing illusions with skill and wit, plus ventriloquist Trish Dunn, who brings a trio of characters, including a Norfolk monkey, to life.

A six-strong ensemble of dancers and singers provide the engine room for the show’s spectacular moments, with a blend of energy and elegance. They deserve to be name checked and are Georgia Phelps, Milly Glynn, Holly Lily Anna, Pablo Sanchez Feltrer, Lewis Hemstock and John Mark Lloyd.

Devisers Rob McVeigh and Amy Grimshaw continue to interweave traditional elements of festive fare with new modern twists, festooned with superb staging, back projections, and costumes.

It is, as host Olly says, a unique variety show on Cromer’s “shed on stilts”, that we are lucky to have on our doorstep and it’s an entertainment icon that should be on everyone’s list to Santa.

The show runs until December 28.