As schools begin to fill again with the autumn term commencing, panto casts around the country are counting down the days to their first rehearsal, which for some, is only seven weeks away.
The past two months have seen the last pieces of the pantomime jigsaw fall in to place, but there are still some venues without a full line-up; the most significant being the New Wimbledon Theatre, which this year has great competition from the London Palladium's Cinderella. Whilst we know Matthew Kelly will play Sarah the Cook in First Family Entertainment's Dick Whittington, all other cast members have yet to be announced.
Joining the already announced Paul O'Grady and Julian Clary at the Palladium, Amanda Holden will star as the Fairy Godmother, with Suzie Chard and Wendy Somerville cast as the Wicked Stepsisters. Of course, this isn't the first time cross-dressed roles have been un-crossed; Mollie Sugden played the Dame in 1980's Dick Whittington, whilst Dora Bryan starred as Dame in 1973's Jack and the Beanstalk.
The announcement of female Uglies, or in the Palladium's case "Wicked Stepsisters", is no real surprise given that O'Grady and Clary will deliver much of the usual Uglies patter and that Chard played Ugly Sister for Qdos last season in Hastings. As producer Michael Harrison said, "when you have O'Grady and Clary on your team with huge costume changes and bags of comedy, the sisters need to take on a different guise."
It is interesting to note that 2016 will see a season of Qdos mixing up the usual gender bending with John Linehan, aka May McFettridge, and Chris Hayward both playing Fairy Godmother in Belfast and Newcastle. McFettridge played the role in 2002, 2007 and 2012 with Hayward taking up the wand for the first time having previously played Baroness Rita when the Theatre Royal produced Cinderella in 2009.
Cinderella always presents difficulties for venues with resident Dames and playing Fairy Godmother, as Donovan Christian Cary did in Aldershot last year and as Simon Bashford will in Redhill this year, gets around the issue of a slightly different partnership or role interpretation should they be cast as Ugly Sister. With a slight re-alignment to the narrative, the Fairy Godmother can still have the Comic / Dame relationship with Buttons and of course in some productions she is still linked romantically to Baron Hardup, merging the worlds of immortal and mortal.
Over the years, seasoned pantomime performers take on a variety of roles as they graduate up the pantomime hierarchy. From Tommy the Cat to Genies, Dames and Dandini, 2016 will see Wayne Sleep turn wicked as he takes on the role of Phineas P Stinkworthy for Norwich Theatre Royal, which is to set its version of Jack and the Beanstalk in the Wild West.
When the Palladium presented Sleeping Beauty in 1958, its Prince came from Texas, much to the disdain of the critics, but American Princes have been found all across Pantoland, from Sheffield's 2011 production of Sleeping Beauty to American stars such as David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson.
In Ipswich, American and regular panto performer Sheila Ferguson takes up the role of Carabosse in the Regent Theatre's production of Sleeping Beauty, with Keith Jack and Mike 'Squeaky' McClean joining her as the Prince and Comic.
Other Villains announced include Zoe Birkett in Rotherham, Samantha Womack in Milton Keynes, Anita Harris in Torquay and Tupele Dorgu in a new pantomime for Leeds to rival the Carriageworks' to be presented at the White Rose Theatre located in the grounds of the former Tetley Brewery.
There has been an increase in arena and non-theatre-based pantomimes in recent years and of course one that won't be going ahead this year is Snow White originally scheduled for the Birmingham and Wembley Arenas. Audiences will now have to wait until 2017 to get their glimpse of Mel B as Scary Queen.
And so from scary to Fairy: 2016 will see a number of pantomime debuts in the form of first-time benevolent agents, including Stacey Solomon in Milton Keynes and Jodi Prenger in Birmingham, both playing Fairy Bowbells in Dick Whittington.
Other wand-wavers announced include Vicki Michelle in Southsea's Jack and the Beanstalk, 1980s popstar Sonia in Cinderella in Runcorn and Pauline Quirk in Hayes, where her son Charlie will also play Prince.
Whilst celebrity casting abounds, a number of theatres have revealed that favourite familiar faces will return to their stages this Christmas much to the delight of regular audience members. Robert Hopkins and Donovan Christian Cary star in Sleeping Beauty at the Princes Theatre, Aldershot, whilst Hackney Empire welcomes back Sharon D Clarke, Kat B, Tony Whittle and Darren Hart.
Clive Rowe won't be joining the team for this year's pantomime, with the Dame role going to Gavin Spokes. Other new faces to Hackney include Alexia Khadime, Kiruna Stamell and Georgia Oldman.
Kit Hesketh-Harvey, Emma Thornett, Peter Gordon, Jamie Brook and Ray Griffiths return for another year at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and Roy Hudd and the team are back at Wilton's Music Hall for their second pantomime in the historic venue, this time Mother Goose.
As panto press launches become a daily occurrence, look out for our September-October update which is set to bring you a whole host of images from across the country as we ebb ever closer to the start of the season when Oldham Coliseum's Sleeping Beauty takes to the stage on 12 November... only two months to go!