The Upstagers are throwing themselves into the panto season with a glittering production of Snow White.

The show, their 27th annual panto, follows the traditional fairytale, beginning with a queen sitting sewing at an open window during a winter snowfall. When she pricks her finger with her needle, three drops of blood drip on to freshly-fallen snow on the black windowsill.

Wishing she had a daughter with “skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony”, the Queen has a baby girl named Snow White – and the rest is fairytale history.

The Upstagers’ production is filled with “lively musical numbers, spectacular sets, beautiful costumes, oodles of young talent, bags of energy, lots of audience participation and fun for all the family in abundance”.

It runs at King’s Hall, Ilkley, from January 24 to February 1 at 7.15pm, with Saturday matinees at 2.15pm. Tickets are available at upstagers. org.uk or on (01943) 607944.

In March, the Upstagers will present the schools’ edition of Les Miserables. Set in early 19th Century France, it is the story of French peasant Jean Valjean and his quest for redemption after breaking his parole and starting his life anew, while relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector, Javert.