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There was warmth and vibrancy in the air from the off, with an animated chorus of young and not so young, a splendid Adderbury High Street set, and the effervescent Lisa Smith's Buttons to set the traditional scene

Eagerly anticipated Gary Leonardi didn't disappoint in his favourite role as the voluminously ugly Grimwalda, but Chairman Paul Hopkins was worryingly convincing as his sister Griselda - how could the perennially typecast Prince Karen Dwyer not fancy them both??

Surprisingly the pretty Prince and his thigh-slapping fop of a mate Dandini (Linda Leslie working as hard as ever) had eyes for the beautiful Belle (a serene Sophie Oldfield) - and of course the downtrodden Cinderella

But not if the sisters' parents the Hardups had anything to do with it! It was good to welcome back the lugubrious Rod Head as the Baron, and to see Denise Barson back and at her best as the scheming Baroness - how we have missed that refractory right eyebrow.

The Hardups however had not reckoned with the transformation (with the help of the audience) of Wendy Gardner from clueless necromancer to fully fledged fairy godmother (the BFG!) - all flashing wand and deranged goodness, who now weaved her magic on the production team, who created the human pumpkin, a tinselled wheelchair for the carriage, mice for horses, and of course a totally transformed Cinders

And so to the ball, where we meet the nauseatingly schmaltzy King and Queen (more excellent casting in the form of Nigel Randall and Karen Reynolds) who bill and coo "You are my choochy face"

(The aptness of the songs chosen by musical director Val Scarff was a feature of the show - not least the Ugly Sisters' rendition of "I feel pretty")

The party continued and we even had a bit of Strictly Come Dancing before the Prince sweeps Cinderella off her feet - and then what tension as we sit silently through the twelve strikes of the clock before Cinders rushes off

What of Cinders though? - Beckie Scarff's really mature performance captured so well all the emotions, from her daily sadness and despair to the joy of the ball ("I could have danced all night") back to despair and then to wedded bliss alongside her friends Belle, Buttons and Lucy (a nicely understated debut by Emily Stoker)

So all 31 on stage played their part in a hugely enjoyable performance, supported by wonderfully creative wardrobe (by Vicky Head and Jess Dixon) and props (Vic Western)

Paul Derbyshire's set was colourfully effective and efficient, but (I almost forgot!) not too efficient to give us time between acts to be royally entertained by Gayna Lee's most inspired creation - the village mice and rats!

The eight mice were a joyful bundle of squeaky animation from the youngest members of the cast, not least when they staggered back from a lock-in at The Bell

The mice had been mentored by a couple of real smart lads - sorry rats, Jacob Eley and Max Homer, fresh from the cellars of Christ Church College, where they had developed very convincing toff accents, and thought life to be a spiffing wheeze

Their rendition of "We're a couple of swells" brought the house down

So here we had even more exciting talent unearthed by Theatre Workshop, which augurs well for the next 30 years.

Aren't we fortunate to have ATW in our midst!

Nick Fennell