Pantomime

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Tonight we went to the pantomime in town. Pantomime is a Christmas tradition in England that has its roots in Italian Commedia dell' Arte and the medieval morality plays. Called Panto, for short, the story is usually a fairy tale - Cinderella, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, and Dick Whittington are traditional ones. We saw Dick Whittington who was an actual historical figure. He was Lord Mayor of London 3 times. Before we went to go see the Panto, Kate Juggins, a friend of the program, came over on Tuesday to explain a bit about Panto to us. Even so, I was not fully prepared for the actuality of it.
When we got to the theater we were given 3-D glasses, which we played with like we were about 5 years old. The show opened with a ballet dance to music from Oliver! - including the songs Food and Who Will Buy. Then the first character, Idle Jack, came on stage and the hilarity began as he was singing Celebrate. The story line is pretty straight forward: Dick and his family come to London to find work, and they meet the Fitzwarren's and Dick falls in love with Alice. They are going to embark on a journey when King Rat frames Dick for stealing Mrs. Fitzwarren's money. Dick hears the bells which call him back and they leave. Of course, King Rat is on board the ship and tries to kill Dick. Throughout the story a very confused fairy keeps trying to thwart King Rat and finally succeeds in the end. The Panto ends with the marriage of Dick and Alice, and Dick becomes Lord Mayor. Sounds straight forward, right? But even with out the random montage of music - we heard everything from Joy to the World (not the Christmas carol) to Come What May - there are the characters. Both mothers were played by men - which is tradition - and switched costumes for every scene. The guy who played Dick's mother reminded me of Alan Rickman (Severus Snape). Dick is usually played by a girl, but for the one we saw he was played by a man. On top of that, there is the audience participation. It is basically required that the audience participates. We had to shout things like "We're all right, Jack", "Boo" (every time King Rat came on or purposed an evil plot), and "He's behind you!" There was one scene when the actors were playing off the audience and then couldn't remember their lines. But instead of being painful, like it is in regular theater, it was hilarious because they kept on making cracks at each other. Then there was the scene where Mrs. Whittington, Mrs. Fitzwarren, and Jack were waiting for Dick and Alice to find a boat - they were shipwrecked - and started singing Rockin' All Over The World. Then the audience joined in. Then we sang it about ten times. Then Dick came back on but before he could get the line out we were singing again, and again, and again. It was a little out of control. Finally he was able to spit the line out and the show continued. Right before the last scene, Mrs. Whittington and Mrs. Fitzwarren led us all in Old McDonald and brought children up on the stage to help be the animals. Oh yeah, the last song that the cast sang before the wedding was We're All In This Together from High School Musical. I don't know if I have ever laughed so hard in my life. Oh, the 3-D part came in Act II when they were throwing things off the ship in an attempt to save it and ended with them jumping off. Every time something was thrown the little kids screamed. So, it was pretty amazing, if a bit strange.

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