Panto

Last Friday I got to experience something quintessentially British: The Panto. Short for Pantomime, the Panto is what we consider a "melodrama" in the U.S. Built for audience interaction and tailored for kids, there is plenty of opportunity for the audience to interact and be recognised by the players.

The production was "Jack and the Beanstalk." My friend Gary works for Price Waterhouse Coopers, who stages an elaborate Panto each year for kids all around the London area. So Gary and his partner Ed invited me to come along. I also brought my friend Stefan, who took these pictures (he's a great photographer). He is Belgian, so as British outsiders, we were both curious about the whole Panto phenomenon.

I must say, the full-length performance was pretty engaging. The production took place at the Peacock Theatre, near Covent Garden. It featured a large cast of about 40 people, had a very colourful and elaborate set, bright costumes, and a full orchestra.

It is apparently Panto tradition that the lead male character is played by a female actress and vice versa, so Jack was a girl and his Mom was a man, basically in drag (the mother was the most entertaining role). I have no idea why this is tradition, nor do I have the inclination to look it up on Google right now to prove what a know-it-all I am, so we'll just accept it for what it is.

Pop songs and dance numbers were regularly intersperesed into the plotline, done with a lot of wit and humour. For example, as Jack was preparing to sell Buttercup, his cow, the cast was cleaning/gussying her up for market while singing 70s tune (?) "At the Carwash." After selling the cow for a sack of gold that turned into a bag of beans, Jack sang Britney Spears song, "Oops I Did it Again," only the words were changed slightly to say "Ooops I did it again, I sold your cow..." Another favourite was the all-cast number "Show me the Way to Cloudarillo" (instead of "Amarillo"), and the beanstalk's own rendition of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" with changed words to "I'm a beanstalk."

I was also quite amused when the Giant (or the Giant's giant leg, I should say) thundered onto the stage with his big, booming voice, only for the actual Giant to eventually pop out of a little door on the shoe -- a tiny little man in lederhosen yelling through a megaphone ala The Wizard of Oz. I screamed laughing.

But the classic appeal of the Panto still lies with audience interaction, as kids cheer the heros, boo the villains, and help the actors by yelling, "HE WENT THAT WAY!!!" and "WHAT'S UP JACK?! DOWN WITH GIANTS!" and "OH NO YOU CAN'T!" (Villain: "Oh yes I can!") "OH NO YOU CANT!!!!"

The show ended with a mass musical review of all the song and dance numbers squished together into a medley, and that was followed by a four-round singalong of "Old Mac Donald." After all, you can never ever have too much of a good thing like a sing along -- especially when you're 7 years old. But even at 33, I couldn't help leaving there with a pretty big smile on my face. As I like to say when the occassion warrants it, "good times."