MALTON & Norton Musical Theatre's 2017 pantomime, Jack And The Beanstalk, opens tonight at the Milton Rooms, Malton.

Mark Poole will star as dame Dottie Trott, while her two sons will be played by Ben Greenhough as Jack and Matilda Gledhill in her first principal role as Silly Billy.

Company newcomer and Open Mic UK regional finalist Molly Teasdale will be principal girl Jill, performing alongside Barrie Elener as King Maurice, Rosa Burns as regal assistant Grabbit and Thomas Jennings as Fleshcreep, reprising his pantomime villain role from last year.

Michelle Carter will feature in the Malton & Norton show once more, this winter as Fairy Moonbeam; Graeme Hargreaves will provide the voice of Giant Blunderbore and Lucy Peel and Rebecca Heslop will team up as dancing and singing Daisy the Cow.

The principals will be supported by a chorus and the senior and junior dancers from Kirkham Henry Performing Arts in the performance run from tonight until January 28. Peter Melia returns as the show's director; Mickey Moran is the musical director, with help from Adam Parrish, after Mickey played Filch, one half of the comedy double act, last year when Adam was a late addition to the team, standing in at the last minute to play keyboards in the band during show week. The script writer is Peter Denyer and choreography is by Rebecca Neacsu.

Tickets, priced at £14 and £12 for concessions, with no booking fee, are available from yourboxoffice.co.uk, in person from No 1 Health & Beauty, Market Street, Malton, or on 01653 694275, the number to ring for group bookings too. Evening performances will start at 7.15pm except on Saturday when there will be shows at 1pm and 5.30pm; a second matinee will begin at 2.15pm on January 28.