Introducing Greenwich panto stars

With Panto opening tonight, now seems as good a time as any to introduce two of this year’s Greenwich newcomers – Samuel Bailey, who plays Dick Whittington, and Jasmine Jules Andrews who plays Alice Fitzwarren.

Panto has played a major part in all of our lives, in different ways. For me, an early visit with family was probably my first ever exposure to what a pantomime is and the effect it can have on an audience.

“Panto has been a big part of my career. I’m often cast as Peter Pan” Sam told me, “but for me I think my favourite panto to go and watch has always been Aladdin. I just love the story of Aladdin – I think it works perfectly for panto.”

“Snow White is my favourite” said Jasmine, “mainly because I’ll never forget playing Tickle, one of the seven dwarfs, when I was a child. All I had to do was giggle all the way through the show!”

Our two leads told me a bit more about what attracted them to their characters.

Sam said, “Dick Whittington is a young man who heads to London from Gloucester to seek fame & fortune – basically seeking a better life for him and his faithful pal, a black & orange cat called Tommie. I wanted to play Dick purely because I’ve never played him before – for Panto season this felt like a nice change for me!”

“Alice Fitzwarren is the daughter of the alderman” said Jasmine. “She’s smart, fashionable and friendly. Most importantly though, she’s the one who trusts Dick Whittington when nobody else does. I wanted to play her because she stands up for what’s right.”

Both Sam and Jasmine started their journey into theatre when they were young.

“Every dance, singing, or acting class – I was there!” said Sam. “I decided to train in musical theatre properly as an adult and from there got myself an agent and started this crazy journey in this industry. One of the highlights in my working life so far has definitely been performing with Disney’s Newsies at the Olivier Awards in 2023 where we went on to win the award for best choreography – a very special night!”

“I also loved singing and dancing from a very young age” added Jasmine. “I didn’t find out I could make it into a career until I was at secondary school though. I committed myself fully to my dance classes and singing lessons, as well as my school work, to ensure I could have the best chance at whatever I ended up doing. I guess one of my career highlights so far was getting to play Cher for 3 weeks in The Cher Show as first cover. I also got to lash Jesus with glitter 39 times per show, 8 shows a week in Jesus Christ Superstar!”

And what’s next for our leads? “As actors we never quite know what’s coming next” said Sam. “I’ll just keep working hard, booking jobs and always keep challenging myself with whatever comes my way!”

And for Jasmine? “For me, I’ll just keep learning from every job, and have fun and laugh a lot in every process. My ambition currently is to be in a West End production…”