The mixture of novel and traditional, plus a script packed with songs, jokes and lively performances, all made for an excellent first night at Aladdin at the Leas Cliff Hall.

The Genie as a cool dude babe magnet added freshness to the panto while the Slave of the Ring as an Essex girl was another new idea giving further momentum to the CTP Productions show at the theatre in Folkestone.

Katie MacKenzie played the Slave of the Ring with a perfect Essex twang and there was also a re-writing of The Twelve Days of Christmas: "Three wooden spoons, two football shirts and a bra that was 99p."

But there was still a place, and plenty of enjoyment, for the traditional features of pantomime such as the audience chant of "behind you." and a call to Princess Jasmine: "Oh no he shouldn’t."

And Robin Hancox got plenty of boos as the pantomime villain Abanazar with his menacing demeanour and the doom-laden entrance music, while the Dame, Paul Ketley, was once again the quick-change queen.

He also supplied some memorable lines such as: “I lost my first husband - what a card game that was.”

Callum Erskine as Aladdin and Stephanie Coates as Princess Jasmine were spot on in their romantic roles and great support was provided in the show by actors such as Colin MacKenzie as the Emperor of China.

Plenty of comedy was provided by Charley Byrne as Wishee Washee and puns galore came from Callum Rumsey as PC Pongo.

Local youngsters provided an excellent supporting mass in the cast while choreography by Chloe Hackett was spot on. The end product, under the watch of director Bob Osborne and producer Neil Hunnisett, was a rich show densely packed with humour, novelty, fun and good music.

For details of all the pantos on across Kent click here