Record Breaking Christmas Pantomime – Beauty and the Beast pantomime has proved to be our most popular yet.

The pantomime which ran from December 2018 to January this year, saw almost an 80% increase in attendance from under 18s, based on figures from previous years.  Tickets sales as a whole were also up by almost 10%.

Andrew Howard, marketing manager at the Blackpool Grand Theatre said: “It may seem an odd time to start talking about the Christmas panto, but it’s at this time of year we review our figures and our Beauty and Beast pantomime looks to be our best yet in terms of attendance, in particular with a big increase in attendance from under 18’s and students.”

The Beauty and Beast pantomime, saw EastEnders and Benidorm star Danny Walters play the Prince, Hayley Kay star as the beautiful ‘Fairy Bon Bon’ and Nick Wilton as ‘Polly La Plonk’ alongside panto favourite the incredible Steve Royle (BBC Radio Lancashire) who made his 16th annual appearance starring as ‘Louis La Plonk’.

Other players included some famous faces from the world of theatre including Amelia Adams-Pearce who played Belle and was a star of Rat Pack Live.

This record breaking Christmas pantomime was produced by Martin Dodd of UK Productions in partnership with the Blackpool Grand and has been nominated for three Great British Pantomime Awards, Best Costume Design, Best Supporting Male and Best Script. The show also saw its first proposal.

Andrew said: “Our Christmas panto is one of the highlights for the team, and one of the performances where we as a theatre are more heavily involved in the production. It’s vital for us, both in attracting new audiences who don’t traditionally go to the theatre but also as one of the key income generators for The Grand, money which is then used to re-invest in the restoration of the building.”

He added: “We’ve really set ourselves a challenge now, to go bigger and better with the next panto.  We’ve got an absolute classic planned for 2019, J M Barrie’s Peter Pan, which is always a favourite.  We are working with Martin Dodd on the production and we’ll be announcing an all star cast in the coming months.”

This year the Blackpool Grand celebrates its 125-year anniversary and there will be a host of special events from West End plays, to the panto, to a range of fundraising activities and heritage open days.

For more information on our programme of events this year visit www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk