By Julie-Anne Whitney
Hansel & Gretel (Winter 2020 Panto) – Written and directed by Matthew Woods; costume design by Cotton Talbot-Minkin; set design by Lillian P.H. Kology; lighting design by Michaela Carmela Bocchino; puppet design by Elizabeth Owens and Jill Rogati; stage and production management by Sophia Giordano. Produced by Imaginary Beasts at the Charlestown Working Theater through March 1, 2020.
The British Panto has been a popular holiday tradition in the U.K. since the early 1700s. For those who don’t know, a panto is a rowdy, interactive Vaudevillian style of musical theater which starts with a simple children’s story (such as Cinderella, Snow White, or Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.) and is then transformed into an over-the-top slapstick comedy piece with contemporary references, a bit of improvisation, an educational element, and enough creative humor to please both the children and the grownups.
The traditional panto has an assortment of stock characters which includes the principal boy (usually played by a young woman in man’s clothing), the panto dame (usually played by a middle-aged man in drag), the principal girl (played by a young woman), the villain (played by a man or a woman), a comic lead or fairy-like character, a sidekick, and a comic animal.
Imaginary Beasts’ winter 2020 panto, Hansel & Gretel, loosely follows the German fairy tale with a few amusing alterations: The sandman (Jamie Semel) acts as the narrator for the story, leading Pfeffernusse, the gingerbread man (Jen Taschereau) who escaped from the witch’s house, and his new friends Hansel (Laura Detwiler) and Gretel (Bob Mussett) through the woods with the help of magical sprites, Meyer the Mushroom (Amy Meyer) and Hinkypink (Rebecca Lehrhoff), along with the occasional comic interjection from Nutmeg the pig (Sivan Spector) and Clove the donkey (Colin McIntire).
Meanwhile, Engelbert Besenmacher, aka H&G’s father the broom maker (Jamie Semel), has an unexpected visitor, Carlotta “Cookie” Crumble (Kiki Samko), who claims to be his late wife’s long-lost sister (spoiler alert: Cookie is actually The Nibble Witch in disguise!). Fraulein Morgenstern, H&G’s teacher (Lauren Foster) who is secretly in love with the children’s father, tries to help Engelbert make his rent payment to the greedy sausage factory owner, Baron von Wurstwurst (Matthew Woods), by purchasing some of his handmade brooms.
With bright, eye-catching costumes designed by Cotton Talbot-Minkin, an imaginative pop-up book set designed by Lillian P.H. Kology, and enchanting puppets designed by Elizabeth Owens and Jill Rogati, this production is more than just a fun piece of children’s theater. With some bad dad jokes, a few playful puns, loving nods to Harry Potter and Black Panther, musical mashups from South Pacific, Hello Dolly, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Yentl, The Wizard of Oz, and The Sound of Music, and amusing references to Trader Joe’s, Disney+, Virginia Woolf, and Lizzo– this production has something for everyone, young and old.
When I saw the Hansel & Gretel panto, the kids in the audience were outnumbered by adults 3 to 1. I imagine that the more kids there are, the more fun the experience will be because kids aren’t afraid to join in, to laugh, and be silly – which is what panto is all about. So leave your serious face at home and make your way to the Charlestown Working Theater for a night of family fun. Experience something new, let your guard down, and laugh a little. For tickets and information, go to: http://www.imaginarybeasts.org/now-playing
