THE Alhambra panto, Cinderella, comes to an end on Sunday (January 21) after a fun-packed six-week run.
Panto legend Billy Pearce leads the cast as Buttons, along with Emmerdale star Samantha Giles as the Wicked Stepmother and Great British Bake Off winner and Strictly Come Dancing finalist John Whaite as Dandini and the Fairy Godfather.
They're joined by Dale Mathurin as Prince Charming, Huddersfield's Sarah Pearson as Cinders; Phil Hitchcock as Magician Baron Hardup and Wendy Somerville and Larissa Alexandrovnia as the Wicked Stepsisters.
Working hard behind the scenes to delivering the show on stage every day is an army of backstage and production crew and venue staff.
So what does it takes to bring Yorkshire's biggest pantomime to life? Here’s a peek behind the scenes:
* The Alhambra theatre crew worked 1,066 hours in the first week, which included the fit up, rehearsals and shows.
* 188 lamps have been rigged and hung in the auditorium and on stage to light the panto this year - 144 of them are LED and 44 other lights. Most of the LED lamps can change colour and have more than 3,000 assorted colour options.
* 630 knots were tied to hold all the cloths up that are flown in the show.
* There are 50 speakers used in the production to play the music, effects, singing and dialogue.
* A total of 85 pumpkins are used in the show. Some are obvious, such as the ones that in the cart that Billy first appears with, then there are some hidden on the spectacular flying carriage, and some are created by light.
* As well as the two mice that are transformed into the horses, there are another 20 mice on the set.
* Billy first yells “Hiya kids” 10 minutes and one second into the show.
* 41 pyrotechnics are used in the show - the most yet in an Alhambra panto. That's a total of 2,911 over the entire run.
* During the panto so far, the Alhambra's food and beverage team has served more than seven tons of draught beer.
* Approximately 500 baubles adorned the Christmas trees in the theatre; the largest bauble on the main tree in the foyer is half a metre wide, and the longest bauble is just under one metre long.
* More than 3,284 merchandise items have been sold so far, including programmes and panto pony toys.
* The kiosk team has sold 15,245 confectionary items and 17,695 ice-creams have been enjoyed by audiences - in the depths of winter!
* Theatre staff will usually start making “Oh no it isn’t” jokes with colleagues in summer when the front of house team starts preparations for the panto run.
* The annual Alhambra panto brings together the work of more than 30 technical and production staff, 20 performers and musicians.
* And up to an additional 160 venue staff, including food and beverage, box office, cleaning, front of house and stage-door teams, work to ensure the venue is ready to open its doors to the public during the run of pantomime.
Check out our What's On guide at https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/local-events/?_evDiscoveryPath=/
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