Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York,

STUART Wade's perky Buttons turns serious for a second. "And that, ladies and gentleman, is what pantomime is all about."

Little Molly, all of four years old, hair adorned in silver and red tinsel, has just stepped up from the stalls to sing her favourite nursery rhyme, Sing A Song Of Sixpence.

In a way, Stuart is right: for Molly it is a magical moment in the bright lights, a newly-minted childhood memory for life. New Pantomime Productions, the show's producers, believe in putting children first in the priority list, much like the principle for leaving a sinking ship.

Alas, the second priority in Simon Barry's starchy show would appear to be maximum return for minimum originality. New Pantomime Productions do not put the 'new' into this show: why, for example, is an Ugly Sister joke about being as posh as Danny La Rue's dressing room not updated to someone contemporary, say Lily Savage? Why does one scene in Baron Hardup's rundown house have the inappropriate backdrop of a guillotine and a tank?

Thankfully, live theatre allows a performer to rise above his surroundings, and Stuart Wade shines as Buttons, even overcoming a somewhat flat beginning when the former Emmerdale soap hand emerges from the dark in a tiny car more appropriate for Noddy, rather than a tractor or a motorbike, his Emmerdale trademark.

Wade's stiff Biff had always seemed rather grumpy on the Yorkshire Television soap, so his smiling, bouncy, elastic panto turn comes as a revelation. The Halifax actor made his pantomime debut only last year, and he's a natural. He has a smile in his voice, plays on being not the tallest of men, crosses the 'fourth wall' instantly to bond with the children, and shows insatiable enthusiasm for his topical, pop-inspired catchphrase for the night, "Who let the dogs out?". "Woof, woof, woof", the children respond ever louder.

On the subject of dogs, here come the Ugly Sisters Patsy and Edina, Stevie Marc and Phil Randall, a spectacular, indeed, scary sight, but cursed with dog-eared dialogue.One a psychedelic giraffe, the other pumpkin-plump, they lampoon Absolutely Fabulous, surely a little old hat, sweetie. They have the look - absolutely fabulous costumes from Steven Metcalfe and extravagant wigs by Miss Gerry - but not, alas, the wit of Jennifer Saunders' television series.

Stuart Wade's fellow Emmerdale escapee, Tonicha Jeronimo, is a lovely Cinderella, albeit one expected to glide through a mouldy mountain of cheesy lines, and her solo version of S Club 7's Never Had A Dream is the pick of the musical numbers.

With his suspension-bridge broad shoulders, Gladiator Ace, alias Warren Furman, could probably carry Julia Barnett's Fairy, Kevin Bourne's Prince and Richard Franklin's Baron. Instead, his Dandini provides the biggest, gloriously accidental, laugh. Holding Cinderella's discarded slipper, he lets slip: "She must have dropped one as she left." At last, an original gag.

Cinderella, Grand Opera House, York, until January 7. Box office: 01904 671818.