THIS is the pantomime with something old, something new, something borrowed, something Bloor.

The old is the tired-looking set, in need of a lick of enthusiasm for something better. Then there's the pantomime cow's costume that should have been consigned to a dressing-up box long ago; the token joke about York's traffic flow; the inflatable beanstalk that needs a Viagra boost; and the same set-piece routines year after year.

The new is largely good news, from cheeky, cheery Chris Casey's Grand Opera House panto debut as daft lad Simple Simon to Stuart Wade's switch for the first time to the dame's role. Wade has long been the best asset of Simon Barry's shows in York, and once again, he binds everything together both on stage and as Barry's assistant director.

His costumes for Tilly Trott may not be as flamboyant or exuberant as those worn elsewhere in Yorkshire's pantoland this winter, and you wish he could be given better lines by Barry, but Wade makes the most of both forms of material, such is his playfulness, his sense of timing, his facial expressions and his ability to play to a crowd, both young and older.

York Press:

Scooch duo Caroline Barnes as Princess Jill and Russ Spencer as Jack Trott. Picture: David Harrison

New to York too is London soul singer Jade Ellis, who lost out in a 2013 sing-off with boy band Union J in The X Factor. Her Fairy Peapod must be the first with a tattoo the length of her right arm, a sign of the times no doubt, and it's probably not a section of the script that is inked on her back.

Wearing black tights on account of an ankle being bandaged, she defies her injury to still glide around the stage and her big moment comes with her powerhouse rendition of Beyonce's Listen. There will be more to come in her performance once her ankle heals.

Meanwhile, another GOH newcomer, the Romanian-born, Thirsk-raised Ionica Adriana, throws her all into one of pantomime's more thankless roles, Witch Blackweed, pesky second fiddle to Giant Blunderbore (Nathan Haymer Bates).

Something borrowed is the same collection of set-piece routines from past Barry pantos in York, such as the "Behind You" ghost appearance and The 12 Days Of Christmas. The latter turns out to be the show's comic high point, full of quickfire physical interplay and mischief-making interjections by Wade as the props and bodies pile up. This is what could and should happen more often because, once again, Barry's hard-working, ever enthusiastic cast is better than the rations he gives them.

York Press:

The only way is...York for TOWIE's Lewis Bloor, playing King Willy the Umpteenth in his first pantomime. Picture: David Harrison

This applies in particular to Russ Spencer and Caroline Barnes, from Eurovision act Scooch, an engaging couple who make the most of their romantic relationship as Jack Trott and Princess Jill, not least when singing a terrific arrangement of Yazoo's Only You.

Barry keeps the dialogue between the set pieces and Emily Taylor's lively dance routines short and blunt; indeed at one point he goes from one routine to the next without any linking plot. This failing, this tendency to play safe, has let down the Grand Opera House panto year after year and yet the director is bolder in his casting.

Hence something Bloor: Lewis Bloor, from The Only Way Is Essex, here cast as King Willy the Umpteenth in his panto debut. Not the greatest singer, he nevertheless has a winning sense of fun and games about him.

Jack And The Beanstalk runs at Grand Opera House, York, until January 3. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york