FROM the moment the curtain rises Aladdin at Lighthouse is a winner.

A brilliant cast make this modern take on the traditional story full of vitality, hilarity, and slapstick fun.

Written and directed by CBeebies favourite Chris Jarvis, who also stars as a wonderfully funny Widow Twankey, the show romps along and engages the audience right from the very beginning.

Twankey’s array of costumes are fabulous – they include nods to King Charles, Dame Shirley Bassey, and the RNLI.

Genie of the lamp (Alim Jadavji), is obsessed with game shows, and makes the quest to find the lamp, hidden deep in a cave on the Jurassic Coast, real fun and Professor Pocus (Andrew Pollard) makes a magnificent and amusing baddy – the packed audience loved booing him.

There’s fine performances too from Aladdin (Benjamin Armstrong), Wishee Washee (Josh Haberfield), Princess Jasmin (Ionica Adriana), the Spirit of the Ring (Stephanie Walker), and the Queen (Jo Michaels Barrington).

There is so much in this show including great music from live musicians led by musical director Adam Tuffrey.

It would have been worth going to just to see the rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas that had Widow Twankey, Princess Jasmine, and Wishee Washee racing around the stage, and interacting with an uproarious audience.

There were also marvellous special effects.

A proper flying carpet of course, and a clever virtual flight from the Lighthouse stage to the hidden cave on the Dorset coast.

The audience joined in and had the most wonderful time right through this excellent pantomime. Highly recommended.

Aladdin at Lighthouse runs until New Year’s Eve, Sunday, December 31.