The Shadows get due credit in this article of mine from the December 2017 issue of the UK magazine The Beat.
Pop stars in pantomime
Once upon a time, pop stars regularly appeared in pantomime over the Christmas season. And retrospectives of the period often sneer at that, the gist of the criticism portraying the shows as tatty affairs where the stars were simply shoehorned into the proceedings to sing their current hits and then get offstage. It was, the story goes, just an undignified means of eking out a few pounds over the holidays.
No doubt, that was true much of the time. But not always.
Sometimes, the pantomimes were lavish spectacles that ran from Christmas to Easter in large, prestigious theatres. And the pop star was fully integrated into the narrative rather than being merely an “added attraction” appendage.
Here are five examples.
Tommy Steele in Cinderella (Coliseum, 1958-59)
This iteration of the ancient folk-tale made its debut on American television on March 31, 1957. Written specially for the small screen by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein and starring a youthful Julie Andrews in the title role, the broadcast is reputed to have attracted an audience of 107 million.
The following year’s London adaptation, courtesy of impresario Harold Fielding, was the show’s first stage production and the venue – the Coliseum – was London’s largest theatre. With a 40-piece orchestra and a cast of 70, there was nothing thrifty about the endeavour.
Although Rodgers and Hammerstein had omitted the Buttons character from their show, Fielding restored it for London. After all, Cinderella was to be the vehicle introducing Tommy Steele to the West End and a suitably meaty role was required.
For the score, the Rodgers and Hammerstein TV songs were supplemented by three from their unsuccessful Me & Juliet, which hadn’t played in London, plus a new one written by Tommy himself – You and Me, performed as a duet with Jimmy Edwards.
Cinderella opened to excellent reviews on December 18, 1958, and clocked-up 168 performances between then and the following Easter. It was also excerpted for a special 60-minute BBC radio broadcast on the evening of Christmas Day.
Indeed, there was nothing shabby about this at all!
Cliff and the Shadows in Aladdin (London Palladium, 1964-65)
This was the first of three consecutive Palladium pantomimes to feature a brand new score written by the Shadows. There were 19 musical pieces in all, five of which were entirely orchestral with titles like Dance of the Warriors and Dragon Dance.
Cliff played the title role, Una Stubbs was Princess Balroubadour, Arthur Askey was Widow Twankey, and the Shadows characters were called Wishee, Washee, Noshee and Poshee. Including the dancers, the total cast reached 70.
And the show’s music had some success in its own right. Cliff’s I Could Easily Fall was a solid Top 10 hit in the UK and a dozen other territories ranging from Germany to Australia; the Shadows’ Genie with the Light Brown Lamp instrumental was a UK Top 20 entry; and the show’s LP spent nine weeks in the NME album Top 10.
There was also a buzz about the sound quality, which was apparently so good that some cynics thought it must be mimed. Reporting on the chatter, the music press solved the puzzle by noting the production was making an early use of radio microphones.
To be sure, Aladdin wasn’t rock ‘n’ roll. But with 12 performances a week from Christmas 1964 through to Easter 1965, it was huge box-office. Viewing the crowds from his office window across from the Palladium, the Rolling Stones then manager Eric Easton was mightily impressed with Cliff’s continued pulling power.
Frank Ifield in Babes in the Wood (London Palladium, 1965-66)
Because the original Babes in the Wood story is too flimsy to sustain an entire show, pantomime productions have often incorporated elements of the Robin Hood narrative. And so it was that Frank Ifield came to play the bold Robin in the Palladium’s 1965-66 production. Although past his glory days as a major record seller, Frank was still a potent live attraction who appealed to a broad demographic.
As usual, the Palladium didn’t stint on support. Sid James and Kenneth Connor were featured as the Robbers, Arthur Askey was Big Hearted Martha, and Alan Curtis did villainous duty as the Sheriff of Nottingham. And in an uncredited role as one of the Aida Foster Children, a 17 year-old Elaine Paige made her Palladium debut.
For the Shadows, it was their second Palladium score, albeit one that didn’t have the same resonance outside the theatre as Aladdin had enjoyed. Frank issued three of the songs on singles – an A and two Bs – and there was also an album. But nothing in the way of chart action.
However, three of the tunes turned up on the Shadows own 1966 LP, Shadow Music, which hit the album Top 10 in both the NME (No. 6) and the Record Retailer (No. 5).
Cliff and the Shadows in Cinderella (London Palladium, 1966-67)
Contrary to what’s sometimes been written, the Shadows only involvement with the 1965-66 Babes in the Wood was provision of the music. The following year, though, was different.
In addition to writing their third consecutive score, they played the debt-collecting Broker’s Men. One song put it succinctly: And if a man’s on pleasure bent/Then all his money’s quickly spent/The world shall witness his descent/To pov-er-ty.
As the show’s star – in the Buttons role – Cliff had nine songs plus a duet. One of them, the rampantly infectious In the Country, scored a Top 10 hit in the UK and a half-dozen other territories.
For both Cliff and the Shadows, Cinderella was the final excursion into the world of live pantomime, although a special TV adaptation of Aladdin was subsequently recorded and broadcast on Christmas Day 1967. With a Christmas-to-Easter run, Cinderella was a high note to go out on.
Tommy Steele in Dick Whittington (London Palladium, 1969-70)
Prior to his stint in the Dick Whittington title role, Tommy’s Palladium appearances had been confined to things like the famous Sunday Night at the London Palladium TV showcase and Royal Variety Shows. Then, perhaps influenced by the pantomime’s success, it changed dramatically.
Thanks to long-running engagements like Hans Andersen (1974-75 & 1977-78) and Singin’ in the Rain (1983-85 & 1989), Tommy morphed into the Palladium’s all-time champion headliner. No other star in the theatre’s fabled history has topped the bill as often as he has.
Opening just prior to Christmas, Dick Whittington marked Tommy’s return to live performing following a break after the birth of his daughter. It was an auspicious return.
To be sure, acts like the Beatles and the Stones never did pantomime, which was, of course, their prerogative. But as the five examples here demonstrate, there was nothing second-rate or tatty about some of those who did. Pulling audiences running into the hundreds of thousands in the West End is nothing to be ashamed of.
A native of Ireland, Pat Murphy now lives in Toronto, Canada.