Pantoland Approaches! — Page 3

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#51

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/3/08 at 6:45am

Lily Savage was Paul O'Gradys drag creation.

Not seen the interview but theres a nice piece in the telegraph on panto.
Telegraph

#52

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/11/08 at 7:42am

Warwick Thompson of Bloomberg News explains panto to us dumb colonists.

And he liked the Hackney Empire too!

"Boo, Hiss," Cry Fans as Villains Romp in Silly U.K. Pantos

#53

'What with a whole phalanx of bedtime-story archetypes, led by a falsetto-voiced John Tartaglia as Pinocchio, as well as a giant pink dragon puppet with rolling eyes, the show starts to feel like a Christmas panto, one of those silly seasonal shows beloved in Britain and bearable because, like Santa Claus, they come around only once a year. That’s one parallel that came to my mind. The other, when I was feeling less charitable, was of seeing out-of-work actors dressed up as tacos and French fries in a mall food court'.

Ben Brantley, Shrek review, New York Times.

#54

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/15/08 at 6:41pm

Using panto in a derogatory form...? typical American theatre critic. whats so wrong with going to theatre and enjoying yourself, after all theatre is, to the masses, a way of entertainment. we don't all get free tickets to shows, and expect nothing by styalised, high art. We dont all want to be leaving the theatre,utterly confused as to why we paid £55 on the show. Long live panto...and fun, happy, light musical theatre

(no offence meant to American Theatre Critics...much)

#55

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/15/08 at 6:45pm

Brantley's an odd one, but he's enertaining to read and actually gets enough words to properly get into the subject (unlike the Graduion which only gives 350 words.)

#56

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/15/08 at 7:26pm

Saw Cinderella at The Mayflower, Southampton on Saturday and absolutely loved it.

Biggins was as funny and sweet as can be as Buttons, Matthew Kelly and Matt Rixon made splendid ugly sisters, Stephanie Powers, as the fairy godmother, has got a passable singing voice and legs to die for (and she can still kick 'em really high!). Craig McLachlan was as camp as anything as Prince Charming and his first costume was so tight-fitting it left nothing to the imagination.

The sets were fantastic - they'd obviously thrown a lot of money at them.

Music-wise I couldn't help but laugh at some of the odd choices. Opening with an instrumental of 'The Ballad of Sweeney Todd' and then Stephanie singing 'Putting It Together' from 'Sunday In The Park With George', I thought we were in for a run through the Sondheim songbook, which would have been so post-modern it would have been hilarious. Sadly it wasn't to be but we did get 'Not While I'm Around' from 'Sweeney Todd', 'Loathing' and 'Popular' from 'Wicked' and 'Money, Money, Money'.

During the singalong they got four kids up on stage including one 5 year-old boy dressed as a donkey(!) and a 7 year-old girl who upstaged even Biggins.

#57

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/16/08 at 6:44am

Saw Peter Pan at the Richmond and found it rather meh. There were some fun bits (Simon Callow's Captain Hook massacring "Bad," the "If I Were Not A Pirate" song) and Bonnie Langford is, let's be honest, charming in everything she does

That said, it was a pretty bland script, not a lot of callbacks, and the sound at the Richmond is appalling - I couldn't hear half of the dialogue and even fewer of the lyrics and not just because there were some rowdy kids - the actors were turned down too low.

#58

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/16/08 at 11:42am

Tonite (Tue) Hackney -'Mother Goose'. Cant wait, old friend of mine Susie McKenna directing!
2mrw Wimbledon -'Cinderella'. Curious!
Fri -'Peter Pan' -Richmond. Not looking forward to this one!
Sunday 'Aladdin' -Cardiff. Cant wait!
Tues 'Cinderella' -Swansea. My mate Su Pollard!
Will be seeing Bromley, Woking, Southampton and Birmingham in January.
There will be others too.

Updated On: 12/16/08 at 11:42 AM

#59

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/16/08 at 11:54am

Awh Mama you're such a panto Geek! i love it :)
im going to Bromley next Tuesday, am quite looking foward to it! I do love a bit of thigh slapping

#60

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/16/08 at 7:15pm

Am jealous wanna see Mr Toon in Woking.

#61

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/17/08 at 6:33am

I have always adored panto and loved even more performing in them! In the good old days when panto's were panto's!

#62

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/18/08 at 1:19pm

There's a video piece about panto's on BBC News = o to the entertainment section and its there!

#63

re: Pantoland Approaches!

Posted: 12/18/08 at 1:35pm

i'd rather see a video montage of your pantomime performances Mama :)

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