Royal & Derngate’s Cinderella stars come to town to launch this year’s pantomime

The cast of Royal & Derngate’s pantomime Cinderella had a chance to gather together for the first time this week, to meet the team at the theatre, and to get some great sparkling publicity shots.

Strictly Come Dancing champion and musical theatre star Joanne Clifton and CBeebies favourite Andy Day head up the cast.

Rising to fame as a professional dancer on Strictly, where she lifted the glitterball with her partner Ore Oduba in 2016, the world champion ballroom dancer Joanne Clifton has more recently been seen in top musical theatre productions, including The Addams Family and The Rocky Horror Show. Most recently touring as Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical, Joanne will be casting her magic as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella this Christmas.

Taking the role of Dandini is one of CBeebies’ most popular personalities, Andy Day. His many shows for the channel include the BAFTA-nominated Andy’s Wild Adventures and Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures, and he even has his own pop band Andy and the Oddsocks. He has appeared for many years in CBeebies’ annual televised pantomime in addition to starring in panto at theatres around the country.

Joining the cast as Ugly Sisters are Gordon Cooper and Matt Daines, both seasoned pantomime performers, most recently appearing together at the Octagon Theatre in Yeovil last Christmas. Marcavia McCarthy takes the role of Cinderella, Dave Bibby plays Buttons and Rodney Vubya will appear as Prince Charming.

Building on the success of last year’s smash hit Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and 2022’s Jack and the Beanstalk, Royal & Derngate are pleased to be continuing their partnership with award-winning pantomime producers Evolution Productions. A family business, run by husband and wife Paul Hendy and Emily Wood, Evolution are four-time winners of Pantomime of The Year in the Great British Pantomime Awards.

Jo Gordon, Chief Executive at Royal & Derngate said: “It’s always great to be able to welcome our panto cast into the building for the first time. We’re excited to have such a great cast and company assembled, and we can’t wait to have everyone back here to start rehearsals later in the year!”

Written by Paul Hendy and directed by Emily Wood, Cinderella promises to be spectacular, top-quality entertainment, with lavish sets, hilarious jokes and fun for all the family.

Emily Wood added: “We're so excited to be bringing the most magical of all the pantomimes, Cinderella, to Royal & Derngate this Christmas, especially with this incredible, top-quality cast. Joanne has not only won Strictly but has also starred in numerous musicals, many of which have toured to Northampton. Andy Day is a hero to every family who has watched CBeebies in the last decade! He is a wonderful pantomime performer and we know he'll be a huge hit with Northamptonshire audiences Joining them are two of the very best Uglies in the business, Gordon Cooper and Matt Daines, the hilarious Dave Bibby, Rodney Vubya (direct from Frozen, West End) and the wonderfully talented Marcavia McCarthy as Cinderella. We are sure to have the very best festive offering this year and we can’t wait to see you all at the ball!”

Cinderella will run from Friday 6 to Tuesday 31 December 2024. For more information and to book tickets, go to www.royalandderngate.co.uk or call Box Office on 01604 624811.