Pantomime

I went to a pantomime today – first one in close to 30 years.

Before you get the wrong idea this pantomime wasn’t one that Marcel Marceau or Charlie Chaplin would star in – one with no words and lots of expressive gestures. No indeed.

This was a British pantomime – the kind you see at Christmas time. It’s sort of a fractured children’s story – a fairy tale or a favorite yarn turned on its head. The one we saw was called “The Blizzard of Oz.”

At least one man plays a woman’s part. The hero is usually female. There is one really nasty villain and a couple of monsters running around that only the audience can see.

Music is a mashup of rock and roll and Broadway tunes that everyone knows. The jokes are corny and a lot of politicians come to grief. Audience participation is a must – everything from cheering the hero, booing the villain, warning the players when a monster appears, or even kids going on stage to take shots with plastic hockey sticks while the villain tries to play goalie using a broom – and fails. It’s a blast – especially if you take an 8 and 6 year old along. (The three year old was a little scared of Wanda the evil witch.)

I got into this crazy experience back when I worked at Lipton Bramalea. The factory had a kids Christmas party and before the presents were handed out there was a performance of Peter Pan or Aladdin or whatever by the Peel Panto Players. We had so much fun we ended up going to a bunch of real professional pantos in Toronto – with Ross Petty, Karen Kain, Fred Penner and all sorts of kid pleasing performers.

Then Sarah grew up. But she didn’t forget – so off we went to see an Ottawa based panto with the grandkids. And even after 30 years it’s still great fun.

 

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