(Joyce Hickey’s article appeared in the Irish Times, 12/20.)
Tivoli Theatre, Dublin
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Amid a blaze of jewel-coloured costumes, a burst of dancing whirls and a blast of Jai Ho, Aladdin appears – “I’m just Aladdin, like Madonna, Britney or Moses,” Donal Brennan clarifies – and is soon joined by his principal people: unattainable, sweet-voiced Princess Jasmine (Nadia Forde); loyal, acerbic Sammy Sausages (Alan Hughes); and Buffy Twanky (Rob Murphy), queen of dames, with a big welcome for the boys and girls, the mammies and “especially the daddieeez”, and a big promotion for her laundry, Buffy’s Posh Wonder Wash. “What’s your favourite powder?” she asks an unfortunate daddy, Vinny, before shaming his filthy trousers. “Oh, I’d say you’d like Bold, all right,” she bellows, at which point she has the packed, intimate Tivoli in the palm of her rubber glove.
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