AN evil queen, a dashing prince, seven dwarfs and a little bit of magic, what more could you want from this year’s festive panto offering in Wolverhampton?

This year the Grand Theatre is showcasing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, headed by husband and wife and pantomime favourites Linda Lusardi and Sam Cane.

Linda, as the glamorous Queen Lucretia brilliantly hams up her wicked witch role and genuinely seems to relish in her evil taunts of the audience.

While her husband Sam, not only plays Prince William of Wednesbury, but also directs the play and impressed with his singing ability, judging from the whoops of delight from the audience.

X Factor’s Niki Evans also gets the opportunity to showcase her vocal talents as Fairy Loreelei.

However it is the Grumbleweeds who steal the show as the queen’s courtiers, Muddles and Oddjob.

The duo - Graham Walker and Robin Colvill , who have been in showbusiness for over 25 years, deliver joke after joke after joke and have the whole auditorium, young and old, in stitches from the onset, from the exploding bird gag, to the wonky stool skit – the show is worth seeing just for that!

However a slight disappointment is the role of the dwarfs, who seem to play second fiddle in the storyline.

This year instead of a professional troop of dwarfs, the roles are taken by children in masks, who synchronize their movements to a voiceover of adult voices.

Although the youngsters did the job well, to me it just didn’t seem the same without real dwarfs – although I don’t think this seemed to matter to the hundreds of children lapping up every second of the colourful spectacular.

But with stunning costumes and an impressive set, especially the dwarfs cottage, as well as a magic flying broomstick and a talking magic mirror, the Wolverhampton pantomime is once again a must see this Christmas.

The show runs until January 22.

For tickets call the box office on 01902 42 92 12 or visit grandtheatre.co.uk