Stars of stage and screen made a guest appearance at Dunstable's Grove Theatre this week as the curtain went up on the launch of the venue's spectacular Christmas panto, Snow White.

EastEnders favourite Letitia Dean is starring in the show alongside TV legend Sooty, accompanied by his right-hand man, Richard Cadell. Letitia's brother, Stephen Dean, is the handsome prince and West End favourite Laura Scott plays the fairytale heroine.
Youngsters from the local Anne Gale School of Dance have also been recruited to play the show's dwarfs and chorus.

Producer Barrie Stead, who last year brought larger-than-life thespian Brian Blessed to town for its £500,000 inaugural panto, said the 2007 show in the new theatre had proved a learning curve.

"It was quite hard for us last year. We had a new theatre, it was hidden, there were no signs as to how to get here, the costumes went to the wrong place because the venue wasn't recognised by satnav, so we had an awful lot of problems.

"This year it's great. We are 25 to 30 per cent up on ticket sales already and the big marketing drive hasn't already started.
"We gave the theatre a good show last year and people enjoyed it. This year we are presenting a traditional panto.

"We have a dame, we have a comic character, we have the evil character, we have the sweet character and, of course, in the great tradition of panto, good will triumph over evil."

The press launch itself was a mini panto with reporters each receiving a red rosy apple before meeting up with the show's stars.Dame Donut, played by Andy Daye, turned up in red stripy tights, shocking orange wig, copious amounts of make-up and a gaudy dress, guaranteed not to win any style awards.He was followed by the chaste Scots lassie Laura, who has appeared in Singing In The Rain and A Chorus Line and has just completed a run of Gigi in London.

"She is a great actress with a wonderful singing voice and she makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end," said Barrie.

Richard, the show's director and joint producer, bounded into the press room wearning brightly-coloured dungarees looking like a stand-in for Rainbow's Geoffrey Hayes.With him was his constant companion, Sooty, 60 -years-old this year, complete with magic wand and water pistol, and, making a guest appearance, his great pal Sweep.

Letitia Dean, who recently won new fans in BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and in the West End with Disney's High School Musical, completed the line-up, sweeping into the room (accompanied by her stylist) every inch a panto baddie.Letitia started off playing Snow White but has matured into the role of The Wicked Queen.

Dressed in black and maroon and sounding more than a touch like her former EastEnders co-star, Babs Windsor, the voluptuous TV and stage star laughed and joked with everyone.

"As I'm getting older I really enjoy the camp parts," she gushed. "I quite like getting dragged up, it suits my personality."

Barrie asked: "How would you describe how you play your part as the Wicked Queen?" She replied: "Like Danny La Rue! It's such a fun part to play! I really love panto."

Snow White runs from December 12 to January 4.

For tickets and information contact the box office 01582 602080 or online www.grovetheatre.co.uk