The countdown to the Christmat holidays has officially begun. Last night, Mar, Joy and I went to see the panto produced by Theatre Britain. Each December, we visit the land of fairy tales with the principal boy and dame, the innocent hero, dastardly villain with his inept minions ... You get to laugh, to talk back to the actors, to sing along with the other folks and generally have a good time. You can't go wrong.
This is our 5th panto -- I think our first was Cinderella at the KD Studio Theatre ... If you Google, "British panto -- Cinderella," you might find Entsheawful and her sister menacing poor Cinderella.
This show is based on an old English ballad about two children who get lost in the woods and die of exposure, even though the birds covered them with blankets of leaves ... well, THAT ending won't fly in a panto, so it's the principal boy (Paige Turner) and the dame (Governess Amplebottom) to the rescue, with the help of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Baron von Nasty Chap and his minions got some good musicals numbers -- and lots of heckling from the kids in front of us. Of course, we boo and hiss along with everyone else. That's the point of a panto!! The old "4th wall" just doesn't exist ... while we were heckling the Baron, however, I had a flashback to my 3rd period class who cannot shut up. Luckily, it's part of the script, so the actor took it in stride and sneered at all of us ... until he revealed his sad past and got reformed, another traditional part of Jackie Mellon's scripts. I think the only villain who didn't get reformed was the evil magician in Aladdin and the ogre in Puss in Boots last year ... but, technically, they weren't human -- or part of the hero's family. It isn't Shakespeare or high drama, but you'll have a great time. To see a expert critic's comments on the panto, go to
After the show, the audience gets to meet the actors. We did that when I performed at the Dallas Children's Theatre (which now has its own building in North Dallas.) We let the kids talk with the actors while we made our way out ... and spoke with the Box Office Manager/Producer. He recognized us as repeat offenders -- and we talked about the show. I commented that we'd first seen a panto when John Nathan Turner, who was the producer of Doctor Who in the 80s brought a filmed panto to a convention. We watched it ... and laughed .... and wondered what world we'd wandered into. When I saw an ad for the panto years later, I talked the girls into going -- and we've gone ever since.
We're preparing for the ballet show in January 2011 -- most of the costumes are finished, except for little extras to make them "pop" in a larger auditorium. Still, we won't have any marathon sessions like we did this year (YAY!). I got the news that my balance was better, but my energy levels are flagging ... need more vitamins, I suspect. "5 Hour Energy" just won't cut the mustand when you're doing pirouettes. I've basically maintained my weight, even though I'm eating more or less whenever and whatever I like ... not a good thing, since I tend to like salty and sweet foods ... but I can still climb those 3 flights of stairs every day ...
Today we work on the bling, along with the dolls ... We sell "blinged out" pointe shoes to support the studio, and I may have a lead to sell one or two. I get to learn how to manage the digital camera. Telling me, just point and shoot does not help -- I never mastered the point and shoot reflex cameras! But I do love to take pictures -- the technology, however, got away from me, as often happens. (Don't ask me how to take a picture with my cell phone; I never knew the feature existed until I tried to adjust the ring tone!) More pictures to follow ... 5 days, and we're done for 2010!
No comments:
Post a Comment