Christopher Gray finds his heart melting at this mix of camp, cute and choreographed

When a woman — actually a man — dressed as a Christmas tree is seen with a giant necklace of toilet rolls caught in its upper branches and threatening to dislodge the fairy perched at the pinnacle, we can only really be in the world of pantomime.

Welcome to Cinderella, this year’s glittering comic romp at Aylesbury’s Waterside. The ‘woman’ is Ugly Sister Mel (Dave Lynn), who has joined her sister Cheryl (Tim Hudson) and Andy Collins’s Buttons in the athletic panto version of 12 Days of Christmas where the various presents donated by the ‘true love’ are vigorously hurled about. The loo rolls arrive on day five, so figure prominently.

Mel’s crowning adornment is in fact dislodged on this opening night performance — one less fairy in a show not short of mentions of them, and indeed of queens.

Well, we do have a Fairy Godmother in the shape — the very shapely shape— of Hear’Say and telly star Suzanne Shaw. Meanwhile, Russell Grant — flamboyantly camp and proud of it — is strutting his stuff as Cinders’ dad Baron Hardup.

Not so hard up, by the look of it, that he can’t afford to buy most of the cakes. Some of the ten stones Russell famously lost during his stint on Strictly Come Dancing would appear to have been found again. Sportingly, he makes a joke of his embonpoint in a winning performance that sets the tone for this polished and entertaining show. Russell’s celebrity these days, incidentally, appears to reside principally in Strictly, and dance figures prominently here (choreographer Philip Joel).

There is but one allusion to his day job as an astrologer, when some arriving event or character (I forget which) is greeted with an emphatic: “I knew that was coming.”

Russell might, I think, have foreseen the popularity of Andy Collins, an Aylesbury local who played Buttons in the Waterside’s opening panto four years ago (when Cilla Black was Fairy Godmother) and the chief jester in two of the pantos since. Famous as the best warm-up man in the business, Andy has a rapport with the audience — the kids especially — that make him this Cinderella’s biggest hit.

Except for Ian Lucken’s pair of Shetland ponies who stole every heart – even that of your jaded old critic – in the transformation scene.

Cinderella
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
Until January 4
Call 0844 871 7607 or visit atgtickets.com