GRANGE Amateur Operatic Society is on magic carpet ride putting on its seasonal show Aladdin - the Panto.

The young cast will be acting, dancing and singing at the Victoria Hall, from Friday-Sunday, December 4-6, with a 7.30pm show on the Friday and 2.30pm performances on Saturday and Sunday.

The tale tells of evil Abanazar, played by James Mason, who attempts to trick street urchin Aladdin - Chloe Owens - into recovering the magic lamp from the cave.

Thankfully, with the help of the 'genial' Genie, Molly Cowley and the Spirit of the Ring, Martha Rand, Aladdin manages to thwart Abanazar and returns to his laugh a minute brother and mother, Wishee Washee, played by Tom Shepherd and Widow Twankey, Amy Shepherd.

The side-splitting comedy line-up features four Chinese policemen played by Euan Adams, Max Burrow, Reece Carter and Tate Johnston. Meanwhile, bringing dignity and grace to the glittering cast are the Emperor, Murray Adams, and his daughter, Princess Jasmine, played by Mollie Shires; in the role of her hand maid So-Shy is Katie Gregory.

Aladdin is a centuries old Arabic folk tale that was given the ground-breaking animation Disney treatment in 1992 in a movie featuring Robin Williams as the voice of the Genie.

It is one of the fabulous fables in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, best known as The Arabian Nights, a collection of largely Middle Eastern and Indian stories.

The epic tells the story of Queen Scheherazade who relate a series of stories to her malevolent husband, King Shahryar, who after finding out that his first wife was unfaithful, killed her and swore to marry a different woman each night before disposing of her the following morning to prevent further betrayal. Scheherazade, his vizier's daughter, concocted a plan to end the deadly pattern, where she married Shahrayar, and told him a story each night. However, she stopped the story in the middle, so that he would be excited to hear the rest the following night and so she remained alive. The next evening, she finished the story and then started another, following the same pattern for 1,001 nights, until Shahrayar had a change of heart. The stories became famous pieces of Arabic literature in their own right, such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor and Aladdin.

Tickets for Aladdin - the Panto are available from Grange-over-Sands Library, at the Bay Search and Rescue charity shop or by telephone on 015395-34098.