WHEN an impressive flying dragon from Brum shakes the theatre with a roar and tells you it’s ‘bostin’ you had better believe it, because this spectacularly colourful and cheery pantomime is without doubt a roaring success.

But you won’t really need a big green dragon to tell you that...

From a splendid start through to a glorious finale this is a Hippodrome production which exceeds expectations and truly lives up to the claim from theatre in the heart of the Midlands to be the home of panto.

Certainly Qdos Entertainment appear to have pulled out all the stops to ensure there is little fear of the crown slipping with a cast list boasting no less than seven star names – including John Partridge, Stephanie Beacham, Paul Zerdin and Gok Wan. Talk about cranking up the pressure on their rivals.

They also make the most of the latest technology with outstanding special effects.

The magnificent seven – quite a few of them panto veterans - have equal shares of the spotlight and utilise their individual talents superbly to allow their characters to feed off each other as they produce a warm family feel. All were excellent in working the audience and ensuring they too felt a vital part of the fun.

Style guru Gok Wan makes a fair fist of his panto debut. Well, after a fashion – if you get the drift. His Man in the Mirror role was devised with this in mind and not even a fit of the giggles when facing up to Nora knocked him off his strides. It didn’t really matter as the majority of the production is played for laughs with some top quality slapstick moments.

And there are laughs galore, especially with Gary Wilmot’s top drawer Mrs Nora Crumble, which is a delightful throwback to those Dames of yesteryear. An accomplished singer/songwriter, this is his first role as Dame, and he’s also composed two songs for the show – one in tribute to the Second City’s Balti area ‘Brummie Balti’ and ‘Because You Love Them’, a sentimental song about sons which clearly enthralled the audience.

The laughter continued to flow with Nora’s two ‘sons’ – comedian Matt Slack’s Oddjob and ventriloquist Paul Zerdin’s Muddles – great fun from both. Slack’s performance, definitely in looks and mannerisms, provided reminders of the legendary Roy Hudd in his pomp, and that’s intended as a huge compliment. Comic timing was top notch.

However, it’s Zerdin who possibly garners most plaudits in partly reprising his hugely entertaining and skilful ventriloquist act of last year. He was excellent in putting four children at ease when they joined him for a sing-song but it was the involvement of a couple picked out of the audience which sent the laughter levels into overdrive. What great sports were ‘ugly’ Tom and wife Sarah.

A spot of advice here - if you want to feel safe sit more than three or four rows back from the stage!

Of the other stars Stephanie Beacham’s wicked Queen Sadista is delightfully nasty to everyone – even threatening to send everyone to Walsall if they continued hissing and booing! There are plenty of other jibes elsewhere aimed at Wolverhampton, Tamworth and Aston.

Danielle Hope, who found fame via one of the many Search for a Star television shows, is an engaging Snow White, while John Partridge is a poised and strong strutting Prince John. Both have good voices and delivered several powerful numbers.

Not too sure about the ‘dwarfs’ initially. They’re amusingly played by grown men on their knees with little legs attached to their costumes, and they haven’t really got a big role. But they quickly grew on me and by the time they had marched on for a second appearance I had warmed to them.

Overall this is a Christmas cracker that doesn’t disappoint. Big on energy, colour and definitely noise, it’s a truly spectacular family production. It’s also the Hippodrome’s biggest panto to date and it’s arguably their best.

The panto runs from Thursday, December 19, 2013 to Sunday, February 2, 2014.