King’s Wins Panto Award

Apr 29 2019 | By More

Beauty and the Beast is panto of the year

The Edinburgh King’s 2018 panto, Beauty and the Beast, has won Pantomime of the Year at the Great British Pantomime Awards 2019.

The award was immediately dedicated to Andy Gray by Allan Stewart, as he and Gillian Parkhouse collected it at a ceremony held at the New Wimbledon Theatre in London on Sunday night.

Allan Stewart as Mrs Potty and Grant Stott as Flash Boaby in Beauty and the Beast. Pic Douglas Robertson

The Pantomime of the Year award is given in three categories according to venue capacity. Beauty and the Beast won in the 750 – 1,500 seats category, with the King’s Glasgow production of Aladdin winning the over 1,500 seats category and the under 750 seats category going to Snow White at the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage.

Accepting the award, Stewart said: “I have been in the King’s panto now for 20 years – man and woman – and we found out in August that poor Andy Gray has cancer. We have been together for 20 years, Grant Stott, Andy and myself, and it was really really difficult because we had to go back and re-write the whole thing.

special

“Michael Harrison, Ed Curtis, Allan McHugh and myself had to sit down in August and decide what on earth we were going to do.

“And we put beautiful Gillian in here, and she did a lot of the comedy stuff and it was just incredible, really fantastic.

“So tonight it is special to get this, really, really special. One because you are wonderful and two because I would like to dedicate this to Andy Gray who is actually doing really, really well…”

Both Stewart and Parkhouse were also up for individual awards. Stewart was in the running for Best Song Sheet, along with Johnny Mac at the Glasgow King’s, but it was won by Andy Ford in Dick Whittington at the Theatre Royal Plymouth.

Gillian Parkhouse, who played Belle in the show, was one of five on the shortlist for Best Principal Girl, which was won by Harriet Hare in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Harrogate Theatre.

Big name winners at the awards included Robert Lindsay, who won Best Male Villain for his panto debut as Captain Hook in Peter Pan in Richmond. Clive Rowe picked up the Best Dame for his turn in Aladdin at Hackney Empire, in a shortlist which included Fraser Boyle who was in Sleeping Beauty at the Palace Theatre Kilmarnock.

Best Comic

There were only two other Scottish nominees on the shortlists. MD Stephen Robiers at the Palace Theatre Kilmarnock lost out in Musical Achievement to Rick Coates for Peter Pan at Birmingham Hippodrome.

Ian Sheepie Smith, who marked his decade at Motherwell Theatre by playing Wishee Washee in Aladdin, was nominated for Best Comic, but lost out to Ben Nickless in Cinderella at Manchester Opera House.

This is the third year of the Great British Pantomime Awards, which are given in 27 different categories. Full details on the website here.

Our review of Beauty and the Beast is here: ★★★★☆ Sparkling. The King’s 2019/20 pantomime will be Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with Andy Gray hoped to return fully recovered to team up once again with Allan Stewart and Grant Stott, who will also be joined by Jordan Young.

Gillian Parkhouse as Belle, Chris Cowley as the Beast and the ensemble. Photo by Douglas Robertson

ENDS

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