LAST few. Last few. Last few. Limited. Last Few. Sold out. Last few. So reads the Joseph Rowntree Theatre list for ticket availability for each performance of Rowntree Players' community pantomime this week. The message is clear: crack on pronto if you want a seat for the panto.

In a winter when York has professional pantomimes at all the big three, the Theatre Royal, Grand Opera House and York Barbican, what a testament to the long-standing pulling power of the Players that they should draw full houses.

The joyful atmosphere, the dinner-jacketed greeting on the door, the excited cubs and scouts groups, the traditional fund-raising buckets, the cast greeting one and all afterwards on the forecourt, these all add to making a Rowntree Players panto such a delightful trip to the theatre.

The tireless director and co-writer Howard Ella had to head off to London on Monday for three days of filming in his day job but "his work is done here", as the saying goes, after overseeing a typically exuberant show where principal players and ensemble alike give it their all.

Steve Carter's Abanazar is immediately good as the baddie with the maniacal laugh, scary eyes, self-deluded hauteur and daftly dandy couture, peaking in this Peking show with his Elvis in Vegas rhinestone suit for Trouble, with the young ensemble dancers similarly attired as mini-Elvises. If you're looking for Trouble, you definitely came to the right place.

Hannah King's Princess So-Shi delivers a knock-out Shoop Shoop Song in tandem with Geoff Walker's kindly Emperor; Sian Davies's Genie of the Ring introduces a southern voice to an otherwise northern mien; Sara Howlett's PC Wan and Annie Donaghy's PC Tu work like a Wan-Tu combination should. Man of many voices and co-writer Andy Welch chooses an American accent for his Genie cum narrator, well delivered as ever but why American? Answers on a magic carpet, please.

Graham Smith's accident-prone dame, Widow Twankey, and Gemma McDonald's ginger-nutty Wishee Washee remain the driving force, and if anything McDonald has the upper hand in the slapstick stakes, taking amusing, cheeky digs at Smith. In one earlier performance, when he was struggling for his line, she quipped: "Are you buffering?". Comedy gold, that one.

Marie-Louise Surgenor is as reliable as ever as the principal boy, her Aladdin leading with plenty of pluck, and at her best fronting the first act's ensemble closing setpiece, The World Will Know from the American musical Newsies.

This number is but one of many good choices by musical director Jessica Douglas, whose band has oomph throughout, while Ami Carter's choreography is crisp and even better than past Rowntree shows, especially in the ensemble high point, Don't Break The Rules, from Catch Me If You Can. Catch this one if you can, but you will have to hurry for a ticket.

Rowntree Players present Aladdin, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday. Box office: 01904 501935 or at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk