Okay, so now that part of "Peter Pan Goes Wrong" where Hook yells at the audience makes so much more sense. I think he yells something like "THIS ISN'T PANTO!"
@@ashleighmurray3962 No! But I'm used to children's theater, and pantomime I now understand it's basically that but with more camp and meta humor and compulsory participation to appeal to all ages. I've done a bunch of children's theater that was basically for wee children but it would be a lot more fun to throw in extra jokes that go over their heads and a couple ironic pop songs to play to the grownups too!
I remember being in the youth cast in my local production of Snow White over ten years ago, easily one of the best things i've ever done, the way it brings the community together is just amazing.
I'm glad to see Carrie enjoy her time in the panto. She's had A Year for sure, and I'm glad to see she's thriving in this role. Also, thank you for educating us non-Brits on pantomimes. I learned of them through watching Anne with an E, but it's nice to have the whole tradition explained haha
I am not the biggest fan of panto. However I go to the Marlowe Theatre panto every year and it's the absolute best: AND CARRIE HOPE FLETCHER IS LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVE WEST END ACTRESSES AND I WAS SO EXCITED SEEING HER LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME
Panto is a well underrated art form imo!! We go every year to our local one on NYE. I saw Dick Whittington at the Hackney Empire in 2019 and it was fabulous. They had Dick as a Windrush immigrant. They also had a rat called Boris. Perfect combo of relevant content and classic humour.
I LOVED this panto. The whole ALW referencing was hilarious. The Jamie thing is deliberate as happened when we saw it too. Max and Carrie were the highlights for us. We loved both their performances and accidentally bumped into them after the show and they were both so lovely. We will absolutely be making the 2 hour trip back to see it again after Christmas
Hello from Kent! Which is where Canterbury is! We have been going to the Marlowe Theatre pantomime for five years now and it really is a staple. The water fight gets bigger every year and the wheelbarrow of pun is always astounding. Totally agree with you about Max Fulham - I am generally not a fan of ventriloquism but he was just incredible - the best I have ever seen. And we adore Ben Roddy and feel so lucky to have him!
I love that you’re giving a panto the love it deserves. My love of the theatre came from our annual trip to see the local panto. The Eastbourne pantomime is a local institution and by far the highest attended show of the year.
The mishap in the ‘theatre pun’ sequence must’ve been scripted, because it happened in my performance too! I also thought it might’ve been a real mistake but it turns out that it was just meant to look that way. Clever!
I so wish we had Pantomimes in the US! It looks like such a fun time and I love Christmas traditions that center around EXPERIENCES. So much so that my siblings and I have been designing a family Christmas Olympics in lieu of gifts this year! We’d surely make a Panto Bingo for it
Perhaps Carrie deliberately wanted it to NOT be the Carrie show, it’s pretty insufferable when stars do that in Panto - so got to respect her for that!
I saw the very first preview of Sleeping Beauty and absolutely loved it. I grew up with Panto but this was one of the best ones I’ve seen. It was so hilarious, I laughed so much and had the best time. I also got absolutely soaked, as I was in third row stalls!! 😂 Carrie is definitely the best panto villain I’ve seen. She was fantastic. Max was so so brilliant, I was in awe. And THE FIRE!! Being in the third row, I could actually feel the intense heat coming from the fire batons 😳 All round, a great night.
I don’t know if it still happens but I know when I was a kid my dad’s work would pay for all the workers’ kids to go to the local panto, and that was pretty common. I loved the Christmas panto. Btw, Mickey-Jo, Canterbury is in Kent.
Loves this! I grew up in London but my husband and I love the USA and he has always been confuses with what panto is. Thank you for explaining it so well! Love these videos, keeps me connected to my English musical theatre roots 😊
Sounds like so much fun and I am jealous! Where I live we get all the usual plays- A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story, White Christmas etc which is lovely but I would be so happy if I could go to something like this every year and make it a fun tradition!
Hi I've seen 338 pantomime's and can say that a Evolution pantomime are 5 * shows in my view. My nears one are Sheffield Lyceum and York Theatre Royal. I got to see Sleeping Beauty last year at Sheffield and out of all the pantomime's I've seen this was pure magic, I also got to see Max Fulhum as Buttons in Cinderella in York last year and thought he is a variety star in the making. Saturday I see my 339th panto which will be Jack and the Beanstalk at Sheffield Lyceum. Great review, can't wait to find out what your going to see next.
@7:05 I think what you are refering to is the Dave Lee tribute where the Dame uses a particular catchphrase in every show as it was one that he started many years ago.
My family and I have been going to Panto since the late 80's. No matter your age (we've had 2yrs to 96yrs over four generations) we all try to make sure we go, and the date is booked months in advance. Normally we go to Bournemouth Pavillion, but occasionally we go to the Mayflower in Southampton. Both are considered local for our ever expanding family so we get the local jokes despite most of the parents now living elsewhere. There is something about Panto being a traditional, predictable and utterly joyous. In the Panto we go to, they always read out birthdays and everyone sings. I give my cousin huge props for agreeing to come to the panto on his 21st birthday. It would have been embarrassing even without 28 (very loud) family members making it very clear where he was sat! Panto is one of the many reasons I started to love theatre. Recommend it so much to anyone.
I love pantos! Our local ameture one is the one I grew up watching and then got to be part of when I got older. We have a lot of similar aspects, our dame has been going for over 50 years (most of them consecutively) and always has a little monologue at the end. There's also a closing number that's always done and it meant so much so much to me when I got to perform it for the first time. Its just so much fun, I miss being able to do it
There was a Pantomime show similar to what you critiqued that was performed in San Francisco titled Beach Blanket Babylon which ran for decades all year round but sadly closed due to Covid. It had the same premise where Snow White was looking for her Prince Charming. Most of the performers had been with production and I always looked forward to seeing them. And they were always topical either for a holiday or what was happening in the news. It was truly high camp. I miss it so. I wish it could come back in some form. It was definitely a tourist must see. 🤪👍🙏😎
Bought tickets yesterday for me and my 88 year old Mum, last time I took her we saw Carrie in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Glad uou enjoyed it! We're in Kent btw 😆
I imagine if you saw the panto at the end of run, Carrie might be more comfortable adapting to the audience etc, just through doing so many shows and getting that panto experience.
I saw the panto on Jan 4th, and I would probably still agree with this take on her role - very good and very funny, but still a little like she was just following a script, although she didn't really have a huge number of opportunities to interact with the audience
The monkey puppet was called Gordan 😊 it is a fabulous panto. I live just outside of Canterbury and seen it 3 times already and will be back for my 4th 👏🏼 so happy to see this get the praise it deserves ❤
Whew thanks for explaining what it is! I did go to Wikipedia before I got to your explanation, but you explained it much better than wiki and made it seem much more festive and fun! (me: American, has never seen one didn't know what it was)
Hey there UK people, "panto" seems very fun. I wish we also had this tradition here. What we usually go see at Christmastime are productions of A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker. Do you guys see A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker as part of your traditions as well? Just wonderin'. Thanks to anyone who answers.
The Nutcracker is definitely popular but mostly by the royal ballet company in London so not easy for everyone to get too and I'm sure there's some productions of a Christmas Carol but I've never seen one near me. Almost every local theatre will put on a panto as well as some big ones in the bigger cities so it's very easily accessible to more people, as well as more family friendly because the kids get involved and don't have to sit still quietly for 2 hours so I think that's why it's more popular (as well as being very British 😂)
@cosmiceclaire Hey Claire, Thanks for taking the time to answer. Around here, virtually every ballet school does a Nutcracker, so it's fun to compare. And there are definitely different takes on A Christmas Carol as well. FWIW I live between Princeton and Bucks County, PA and we have a strong theater/arts community here, as well as easy access to NYC and Philadelphia, so maybe that's why there are so many. It would be nice to have a Panto to add to the mix. Maybe someday! Merry Xmas to you and yours.
@@cwbrooks5329 There is one Panto in NYC -- I haven't been, but it looks interesting. It's a local Lower East Side thing, at the Henry Street Settlement.
The Old Vic in London has done A Christmas Carol every year for a while, it's kind of a tradition now. And I usually get to see A Christmas Carol at one of my local theatres each year. But it's definitely not as popular as panto! We always get a touring ballet near me every Christmas. But it's not always the Nutcracker - sometimes it's Swan lake or Sleeping Beauty, etc.
@callalilly5329 Hey Calla Lily, Thanks for responding. I did a quick search and didn't see any ads for a panto at HSS. I did, however, find one called "Peter Pansexual" at another theater. I will definitely be giving that one a miss.
The Cheeky Monkeys are so much fun! I have worked with them before and they are utterly hilarious but do some terrifying tricks that make you shut your eyes tight!
may be incredibly biased as my local panto has an iconic comedic duo that has never failed to go utterly off script but truly idk how people can hate something so camp
Back living in the US after living in the UK I’m pointing all my friends to your description of panto. It’s one of the things I miss most about holidays there.
As a Yank, I appreciated the intro to Panto .... sad we don't have it here in the states. I just bought a great book by Bradfield and Hooper called 'He's Behind You!' that contains 11 gay pantos that they wrote for the Above the Stag Theatre - you should check it out (if you haven't already!)
Yess! This year there is a charlie and the chocolate factory panto, a jack and the beanstalk panto and I stranger things mixed with addams family panto!
would love to hear your views in a future video on pantos and how it intersects with queerness- not been to one since I was a kid, and I worry the man in dress jokes will just make me feel upset? as it is often used as a way of delegitimising trans women. anyway, great video as always x
Thanks for explaining what a panto is! Although I get really annoyed when youtubers from britain or the US act like there are no other countries in the world 🌎🌍
@MickeyJoTheatre Speaking of Ore Oduba, camp and audience participation, can The Rocky Horror Show be considered an honorary panto? I feel like a lot of panto tropes speak directly to RHS fans
Are you going to see newsies at some point? Or have you seen it in the US? That was the first Broadway show I saw at 16 while it was on tour in the US.
I will pass on your comments about the music, all done by a very good friend of mine. Did you notice the entrance of carrie was a line from hellfire foreshadowing her end of act 1 number?
You need to come to York to see Berwick kalers panto. He has been the dame and written/ produced/ directed the show for years - I think he is the longest running dame?
Hey before any panto dames rip into your comments about dames doing drag. This is not the case in 98 percent of shows it's always from the point of it being a "bloke in a dress" never wanting to impersonate any woman. That's why it's funny to watch because a bloke getting hit with a custard pie is hilarious but a woman, it doesn't have the same charm.
@MickeyJoTheatre based on what you said a Pantomime is I think you would love the show Rocky Horror Picture Show, it’s supposedly very audience interactive and just sounds like a good time (I’ve sadly only seen the film)
He mentions having seen the actor playing the panto Prince in Rocky Horror previously in this vid! I agree though panto is very similar vibes to rocky horror, but panto is more for little kids/family too
My mum volunteers at the local theatre, so when the panto is there, she sees it several times when working as an usher. She said that all of the mistakes in the pantos she has seen working, whether they look contrived or they look like genuine mistakes, they are all planned. She is always disappointed when the really funny mistake that made the actor 'genuinely' laugh-cry on the first night, happens in the exact same way on the second night, and by the end of the run she seems to hate the gag for how fake it is while the audience thinks they were privy to a special funny moment.
That is the one thing I don't like about reading/watching panto reviews - it felt like we had got a 'special' performance (in that things went wrong and the actors got the giggles on stage about it), but then you hear that it happened in every show and it feels a bit like you were cheated out of something. If you go to an amateur panto in a local village hall though, you know that every mistake was a genuine mistake - those are some of the funniest shows I've ever seen!
The big local theatre in my city usually does Christmas Carol, but they don't actually have a theatre space right now -- they're building a brand new venue, and so they're borrowing other venues around the region for their shows until it's finished, but they couldn't get one for Christmas time -- so they're doing an "immersive" Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig's Christmas Ball instead -- they got some event space and they're having a Christmas party, with actors in costume acting like it's a Victorian party, and leading the crowd in period-appropriate songs and teaching Victorian parlor games and things like that. Of the other local venues, one is doing an "Every Christmas Story Ever Told" comedy thing (which their website warns is not appropriate for children who still believe in Santa), and another has a new adaptation of Twelve Dancing Princesses. On the dance side of things, Nutcracker is huge -- every ballet school, even little tiny local ones, will have a Nutcracker production, and so will pretty much every professional company. There are also a bunch of modern dance companies that do their own twist on Nutcracker. In New York, the big thing other than Nutcracker is the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which is a sort of variety show. Best known image from that is the line of Rockettes dressed as toy soldiers. I've only seen it once, but I remember there being a bunch of different song and dance numbers, and some scenes about the spirit of giving, and things like that, and I think a nativity scene. For a few years, I lived in a small rural town that was right near a big university, which was an interesting mix of people. There had been a big fire in that town in the late 1800s, and then everything rebuilt pretty quickly, so that the whole downtown area was great examples of architecture from a very short period of time around 1880-1885, and most of it was a historical preservation area. They had a big outdoor Christmas thing, with Christmas Carol characters wandering around and talking to people. I overheard the guy playing Scrooge assuring some kids that he was the good Scrooge, from the end of the story, the one who loved Christmas, and that just seemed to me to take all the fun out of that character.
as a dumb american who has never heard of pantomime, do they sing the actual songs, like hellfire? or is it just the melody with different lyrics to fit the story
Sometimes it will depend, often they will sing the actual lyrics but depending on the song and the moment they may replace the lyrics with something humorous
Does that mean Carrie doesn't want to/won't be offered any work with ALW...?? I know Cinderella was pretty bad for her, but that's quite a bridge to burn no? ...🤭
Like Mickey Jo said, Carrie didn't necessarily have anything to do with the script. I think Carrie even confirmed this on Instagram. So I don't think any bridges were burned.
Somehow I think that pantomimes can be weird. I’m from Hong Kong and the pantomime there is quite… radical. We would reference other theatre companies (to take shots at them), always had a “It’s Behind You” gimmick when it’s just a ghost behind a spooky forest in order to go save the mistress, and we would also have an annual cow, which would be either ensemble or crew members. I did the ensemble last year and is in crew this year, but last year for Jack and the Beanstalk was messed up, despite it being successful, as the music director left for a new one- and he, the music director, although I respect him, is a nightmare. He is the music director this year and OH MY GOD he’s even worse. The music choices last year were mostly musicals- it came from the music director who left. We start with Book of Mormon, Wicked, Hairspray, Les Miserables, but we also included TV theme shows for the kids to know the songs. The Harp even sang a song from Queen- I Want to Break Free XD. This year, it was Robin Hood (a weird choice), and it was mostly pop songs and Beatles songs, as the Robin Hood’s Merry Men represent the Beatles. I would say for this year, Dynamite by BTS (but the title is rearranged it as “Friends In Tights” XD) as a finale song is actually a fun choice, but it can be overused at some point in the future- so that’s a warning to all future pantomime directors! The rest of the choices were eh… but however the villain/ensemble song being a mashup of Bills Bills Bills by Destiny’s Child and Money Money Money by ABBA still haunts me. About you and the Newsies thing, funny thing, last year, we clashed with another theatre company who were doing Sister Act (we even referenced that!), and so, both of the theatre companies cannot be able to watch one another. This year, not so much.
@@KatieKruger8 the local ballet company Nutcracker is such a treat, but I normally have to divert my entertainment funds toward gift giving. Another live performance tradition in my middle America area is Madrigals-basically traditional music and Christmas music in Renaissance type clothing while audience can enjoy supper-but I have not gone since I still knew someone who needed to sell tickets.
There are a few in big cities, usually run by British people and with a long "What is panto?" explanation on their websites, but it's not really a thing that most people have even heard of.
Okay, so now that part of "Peter Pan Goes Wrong" where Hook yells at the audience makes so much more sense. I think he yells something like "THIS ISN'T PANTO!"
You don’t know what pantomime is…. Are you British? Obviously not
@@ashleighmurray3962they are referring to the play that goes wrong? U good boss please stop gatekeeping race.
@@ashleighmurray3962 No! But I'm used to children's theater, and pantomime I now understand it's basically that but with more camp and meta humor and compulsory participation to appeal to all ages. I've done a bunch of children's theater that was basically for wee children but it would be a lot more fun to throw in extra jokes that go over their heads and a couple ironic pop songs to play to the grownups too!
I remember being in the youth cast in my local production of Snow White over ten years ago, easily one of the best things i've ever done, the way it brings the community together is just amazing.
I'm glad to see Carrie enjoy her time in the panto. She's had A Year for sure, and I'm glad to see she's thriving in this role.
Also, thank you for educating us non-Brits on pantomimes. I learned of them through watching Anne with an E, but it's nice to have the whole tradition explained haha
I am not the biggest fan of panto. However I go to the Marlowe Theatre panto every year and it's the absolute best:
AND CARRIE HOPE FLETCHER IS LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVE WEST END ACTRESSES AND I WAS SO EXCITED SEEING HER LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME
Panto is a well underrated art form imo!! We go every year to our local one on NYE. I saw Dick Whittington at the Hackney Empire in 2019 and it was fabulous. They had Dick as a Windrush immigrant. They also had a rat called Boris. Perfect combo of relevant content and classic humour.
I LOVED this panto. The whole ALW referencing was hilarious. The Jamie thing is deliberate as happened when we saw it too. Max and Carrie were the highlights for us. We loved both their performances and accidentally bumped into them after the show and they were both so lovely. We will absolutely be making the 2 hour trip back to see it again after Christmas
Hello from Kent! Which is where Canterbury is! We have been going to the Marlowe Theatre pantomime for five years now and it really is a staple. The water fight gets bigger every year and the wheelbarrow of pun is always astounding. Totally agree with you about Max Fulham - I am generally not a fan of ventriloquism but he was just incredible - the best I have ever seen. And we adore Ben Roddy and feel so lucky to have him!
I love that you’re giving a panto the love it deserves. My love of the theatre came from our annual trip to see the local panto. The Eastbourne pantomime is a local institution and by far the highest attended show of the year.
Those ALW Cinderella references kill me! 😂 I wish I could get to Canterbury for this just to hear those in person
This American really appreciates your explanation of pantomimes! Thank you for describing the tradition, now I want to see one!
MickeyJo I LOVE your videos. They brighten my day, and my life! Thanks for all you do. Happy to support you from Canada.
this is hilarious thank u for educating us non UK ppl! hope to go see a pantomime someday!
The mishap in the ‘theatre pun’ sequence must’ve been scripted, because it happened in my performance too! I also thought it might’ve been a real mistake but it turns out that it was just meant to look that way. Clever!
A lot of what you thought were mistakes were scripted!
I so wish we had Pantomimes in the US! It looks like such a fun time and I love Christmas traditions that center around EXPERIENCES. So much so that my siblings and I have been designing a family Christmas Olympics in lieu of gifts this year! We’d surely make a Panto Bingo for it
Perhaps Carrie deliberately wanted it to NOT be the Carrie show, it’s pretty insufferable when stars do that in Panto - so got to respect her for that!
I saw the very first preview of Sleeping Beauty and absolutely loved it. I grew up with Panto but this was one of the best ones I’ve seen. It was so hilarious, I laughed so much and had the best time. I also got absolutely soaked, as I was in third row stalls!! 😂 Carrie is definitely the best panto villain I’ve seen. She was fantastic. Max was so so brilliant, I was in awe. And THE FIRE!! Being in the third row, I could actually feel the intense heat coming from the fire batons 😳 All round, a great night.
I don’t know if it still happens but I know when I was a kid my dad’s work would pay for all the workers’ kids to go to the local panto, and that was pretty common. I loved the Christmas panto.
Btw, Mickey-Jo, Canterbury is in Kent.
Loves this! I grew up in London but my husband and I love the USA and he has always been confuses with what panto is. Thank you for explaining it so well! Love these videos, keeps me connected to my English musical theatre roots 😊
You are so right. My privilege to see this pantomime tonight with my family. Brilliant... Simply brilliant.
oh my god i didn’t expect a mention of the cheeky monkeys! every time i’ve travelled to the isle of wight, they’ve been there. absolutely brilliant
Sounds like so much fun and I am jealous! Where I live we get all the usual plays- A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story, White Christmas etc which is lovely but I would be so happy if I could go to something like this every year and make it a fun tradition!
Hi I've seen 338 pantomime's and can say that a Evolution pantomime are 5 * shows in my view. My nears one are Sheffield Lyceum and York Theatre Royal. I got to see Sleeping Beauty last year at Sheffield and out of all the pantomime's I've seen this was pure magic, I also got to see Max Fulhum as Buttons in Cinderella in York last year and thought he is a variety star in the making. Saturday I see my 339th panto which will be Jack and the Beanstalk at Sheffield Lyceum. Great review, can't wait to find out what your going to see next.
@7:05 I think what you are refering to is the Dave Lee tribute where the Dame uses a particular catchphrase in every show as it was one that he started many years ago.
My family and I have been going to Panto since the late 80's. No matter your age (we've had 2yrs to 96yrs over four generations) we all try to make sure we go, and the date is booked months in advance. Normally we go to Bournemouth Pavillion, but occasionally we go to the Mayflower in Southampton. Both are considered local for our ever expanding family so we get the local jokes despite most of the parents now living elsewhere. There is something about Panto being a traditional, predictable and utterly joyous.
In the Panto we go to, they always read out birthdays and everyone sings. I give my cousin huge props for agreeing to come to the panto on his 21st birthday. It would have been embarrassing even without 28 (very loud) family members making it very clear where he was sat!
Panto is one of the many reasons I started to love theatre. Recommend it so much to anyone.
I love pantos! Our local ameture one is the one I grew up watching and then got to be part of when I got older. We have a lot of similar aspects, our dame has been going for over 50 years (most of them consecutively) and always has a little monologue at the end. There's also a closing number that's always done and it meant so much so much to me when I got to perform it for the first time. Its just so much fun, I miss being able to do it
This review was such a joy to watch! As an Aussie that doesn’t get to see panto, it’s a pleasure to hear about.
There was a Pantomime show similar to what you critiqued that was performed in San Francisco titled Beach Blanket Babylon which ran for decades all year round but sadly closed due to Covid. It had the same premise where Snow White was looking for her Prince Charming. Most of the performers had been with production and I always looked forward to seeing them. And they were always topical either for a holiday or what was happening in the news. It was truly high camp. I miss it so. I wish it could come back in some form. It was definitely a tourist must see. 🤪👍🙏😎
Omg i need a recording of carrie singing hellfire
Carrie’s doing it again this year!
Singing breaking free as Aladdin and jasmine is a perfect idea
Bought tickets yesterday for me and my 88 year old Mum, last time I took her we saw Carrie in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Glad uou enjoyed it! We're in Kent btw 😆
I saw the producers at Drury lane and it was one of my favorite experiences ever so I really want to see this panto now !!
I imagine if you saw the panto at the end of run, Carrie might be more comfortable adapting to the audience etc, just through doing so many shows and getting that panto experience.
I saw the panto on Jan 4th, and I would probably still agree with this take on her role - very good and very funny, but still a little like she was just following a script, although she didn't really have a huge number of opportunities to interact with the audience
Max Fulham is always fantastic, he was the stand out in Cinderella in York last year and his normal touring show is brilliant!
Max was fantastic!!! Very surprised at him and the fact he was self taught ventriloquist
We go to the Canterbury panto every year with the whole family ! We can’t wait to see this one next week 😊
Really love all of these videos. My favourite is the matilda videos can't wait for the next one
The monkey puppet was called Gordan 😊 it is a fabulous panto. I live just outside of Canterbury and seen it 3 times already and will be back for my 4th 👏🏼 so happy to see this get the praise it deserves ❤
Whew thanks for explaining what it is! I did go to Wikipedia before I got to your explanation, but you explained it much better than wiki and made it seem much more festive and fun! (me: American, has never seen one didn't know what it was)
I can’t make it down to this pants but I wish I could go, it just sounds brilliant and the idea of having dinosaurs in a panto gives me a laugh 😂
New subscriber….yes, from the US…. Great channel and panto review 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Hey there UK people, "panto" seems very fun. I wish we also had this tradition here. What we usually go see at Christmastime are productions of A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker. Do you guys see A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker as part of your traditions as well? Just wonderin'. Thanks to anyone who answers.
The Nutcracker is definitely popular but mostly by the royal ballet company in London so not easy for everyone to get too and I'm sure there's some productions of a Christmas Carol but I've never seen one near me. Almost every local theatre will put on a panto as well as some big ones in the bigger cities so it's very easily accessible to more people, as well as more family friendly because the kids get involved and don't have to sit still quietly for 2 hours so I think that's why it's more popular (as well as being very British 😂)
@cosmiceclaire Hey Claire, Thanks for taking the time to answer. Around here, virtually every ballet school does a Nutcracker, so it's fun to compare. And there are definitely different takes on A Christmas Carol as well. FWIW I live between Princeton and Bucks County, PA and we have a strong theater/arts community here, as well as easy access to NYC and Philadelphia, so maybe that's why there are so many. It would be nice to have a Panto to add to the mix. Maybe someday! Merry Xmas to you and yours.
@@cwbrooks5329 There is one Panto in NYC -- I haven't been, but it looks interesting. It's a local Lower East Side thing, at the Henry Street Settlement.
The Old Vic in London has done A Christmas Carol every year for a while, it's kind of a tradition now. And I usually get to see A Christmas Carol at one of my local theatres each year. But it's definitely not as popular as panto! We always get a touring ballet near me every Christmas. But it's not always the Nutcracker - sometimes it's Swan lake or Sleeping Beauty, etc.
@callalilly5329 Hey Calla Lily, Thanks for responding. I did a quick search and didn't see any ads for a panto at HSS. I did, however, find one called "Peter Pansexual" at another theater. I will definitely be giving that one a miss.
The Cheeky Monkeys are so much fun! I have worked with them before and they are utterly hilarious but do some terrifying tricks that make you shut your eyes tight!
There really needs to be a big revival of panto shows in the US, i want to work on one so bad but i'm over here and not over there!
may be incredibly biased as my local panto has an iconic comedic duo that has never failed to go utterly off script but truly idk how people can hate something so camp
Back living in the US after living in the UK I’m pointing all my friends to your description of panto. It’s one of the things I miss most about holidays there.
Please to meet you Hope you've guessed my name is the opening of "Sympathy for the Devil" from the Rolling Stones.
As a Yank, I appreciated the intro to Panto .... sad we don't have it here in the states. I just bought a great book by Bradfield and Hooper called 'He's Behind You!' that contains 11 gay pantos that they wrote for the Above the Stag Theatre - you should check it out (if you haven't already!)
Pantomime is one of the traditions Britain left behind when they left Malta. Lots of pantos here.
Yess! This year there is a charlie and the chocolate factory panto, a jack and the beanstalk panto and I stranger things mixed with addams family panto!
We loved this!!!
I love pantos and im in my first one this year and its just so much fun! Glad their getting love
i literally died with the andrew lloyd weber shade 💀
would love to hear your views in a future video on pantos and how it intersects with queerness- not been to one since I was a kid, and I worry the man in dress jokes will just make me feel upset? as it is often used as a way of delegitimising trans women. anyway, great video as always x
Thanks for explaining what a panto is! Although I get really annoyed when youtubers from britain or the US act like there are no other countries in the world 🌎🌍
"They're having a stroke of genius". Hahaha.
So good. Love the joke about the producers.
So basically, Rocky Horror Shadowcast but for Christmas and with fairytales
i wish my high school did the christmas panto i miss the loosing my voice at 9:45 on the coach lmao
@MickeyJoTheatre
Speaking of Ore Oduba, camp and audience participation, can The Rocky Horror Show be considered an honorary panto?
I feel like a lot of panto tropes speak directly to RHS fans
I was just thinking the same thing, Rocky Horror is def the same vain
Are you going to see newsies at some point? Or have you seen it in the US? That was the first Broadway show I saw at 16 while it was on tour in the US.
I will pass on your comments about the music, all done by a very good friend of mine. Did you notice the entrance of carrie was a line from hellfire foreshadowing her end of act 1 number?
Sympathy for the devil is the song you wanted to say x
You need to come to York to see Berwick kalers panto. He has been the dame and written/ produced/ directed the show for years - I think he is the longest running dame?
I’m seeing the London palladium panto!
Ahhhhhh yayyyyyyy
Canterbury in Kent! Here to help!
Its in Kent.
Love the prison uniform numbers! Nice touch.
I saw herrr!!
Hey before any panto dames rip into your comments about dames doing drag. This is not the case in 98 percent of shows it's always from the point of it being a "bloke in a dress" never wanting to impersonate any woman. That's why it's funny to watch because a bloke getting hit with a custard pie is hilarious but a woman, it doesn't have the same charm.
Drag is not just female impersonation imo
Plz can we have a matilda vid soon
This why the Marlowe panto is the best because of the humar
Pantomimes are one of the only things in the UK that I’m extremely proud of
Thanks!
I’m from the US:( I have never wanted to see some song hellfire lore 😂. (If anyone has it please pass along)
It's Kent.
OH YEAH
Canterbury is in the County of Kent ❤
@MickeyJoTheatre based on what you said a Pantomime is I think you would love the show Rocky Horror Picture Show, it’s supposedly very audience interactive and just sounds like a good time (I’ve sadly only seen the film)
it is and I'm sure Mickey Jo has a rocky Horror in his archive
@@megzworld1684 I absolutely adore the story it’s so funny
He mentions having seen the actor playing the panto Prince in Rocky Horror previously in this vid! I agree though panto is very similar vibes to rocky horror, but panto is more for little kids/family too
Kent!
Mickey Joe Places though.
My mum volunteers at the local theatre, so when the panto is there, she sees it several times when working as an usher. She said that all of the mistakes in the pantos she has seen working, whether they look contrived or they look like genuine mistakes, they are all planned. She is always disappointed when the really funny mistake that made the actor 'genuinely' laugh-cry on the first night, happens in the exact same way on the second night, and by the end of the run she seems to hate the gag for how fake it is while the audience thinks they were privy to a special funny moment.
That is the one thing I don't like about reading/watching panto reviews - it felt like we had got a 'special' performance (in that things went wrong and the actors got the giggles on stage about it), but then you hear that it happened in every show and it feels a bit like you were cheated out of something. If you go to an amateur panto in a local village hall though, you know that every mistake was a genuine mistake - those are some of the funniest shows I've ever seen!
Jennie dale is an icon and I’ll hear nothing else
6:23 how dare you canterbury is in kent
Does this have a cast album?
I wish I could see this so badly. Sometimes being an American viewer is torture!
I had no idea panto was only a British thing! What does the rest of the world watch at xmas???
Nutcracker and Christmas Carol are the big theatre (or ballet) things in the US at Christmas.
The big local theatre in my city usually does Christmas Carol, but they don't actually have a theatre space right now -- they're building a brand new venue, and so they're borrowing other venues around the region for their shows until it's finished, but they couldn't get one for Christmas time -- so they're doing an "immersive" Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig's Christmas Ball instead -- they got some event space and they're having a Christmas party, with actors in costume acting like it's a Victorian party, and leading the crowd in period-appropriate songs and teaching Victorian parlor games and things like that. Of the other local venues, one is doing an "Every Christmas Story Ever Told" comedy thing (which their website warns is not appropriate for children who still believe in Santa), and another has a new adaptation of Twelve Dancing Princesses.
On the dance side of things, Nutcracker is huge -- every ballet school, even little tiny local ones, will have a Nutcracker production, and so will pretty much every professional company. There are also a bunch of modern dance companies that do their own twist on Nutcracker.
In New York, the big thing other than Nutcracker is the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which is a sort of variety show. Best known image from that is the line of Rockettes dressed as toy soldiers. I've only seen it once, but I remember there being a bunch of different song and dance numbers, and some scenes about the spirit of giving, and things like that, and I think a nativity scene.
For a few years, I lived in a small rural town that was right near a big university, which was an interesting mix of people. There had been a big fire in that town in the late 1800s, and then everything rebuilt pretty quickly, so that the whole downtown area was great examples of architecture from a very short period of time around 1880-1885, and most of it was a historical preservation area. They had a big outdoor Christmas thing, with Christmas Carol characters wandering around and talking to people. I overheard the guy playing Scrooge assuring some kids that he was the good Scrooge, from the end of the story, the one who loved Christmas, and that just seemed to me to take all the fun out of that character.
as a dumb american who has never heard of pantomime, do they sing the actual songs, like hellfire? or is it just the melody with different lyrics to fit the story
Sometimes it will depend, often they will sing the actual lyrics but depending on the song and the moment they may replace the lyrics with something humorous
Canterbury in the county of Kent Mickey.
Does that mean Carrie doesn't want to/won't be offered any work with ALW...?? I know Cinderella was pretty bad for her, but that's quite a bridge to burn no? ...🤭
With Carrie’s success I doubt it will hurt her career to do so tbh!
@@lauran9864 Wow, must cool to be able to stick it to the big man lol
She definitely has every right to burn that bridge, he's been taking it too far for far too long.
Like Mickey Jo said, Carrie didn't necessarily have anything to do with the script. I think Carrie even confirmed this on Instagram. So I don't think any bridges were burned.
Somehow I think that pantomimes can be weird. I’m from Hong Kong and the pantomime there is quite… radical. We would reference other theatre companies (to take shots at them), always had a “It’s Behind You” gimmick when it’s just a ghost behind a spooky forest in order to go save the mistress, and we would also have an annual cow, which would be either ensemble or crew members.
I did the ensemble last year and is in crew this year, but last year for Jack and the Beanstalk was messed up, despite it being successful, as the music director left for a new one- and he, the music director, although I respect him, is a nightmare. He is the music director this year and OH MY GOD he’s even worse.
The music choices last year were mostly musicals- it came from the music director who left. We start with Book of Mormon, Wicked, Hairspray, Les Miserables, but we also included TV theme shows for the kids to know the songs. The Harp even sang a song from Queen- I Want to Break Free XD.
This year, it was Robin Hood (a weird choice), and it was mostly pop songs and Beatles songs, as the Robin Hood’s Merry Men represent the Beatles. I would say for this year, Dynamite by BTS (but the title is rearranged it as “Friends In Tights” XD) as a finale song is actually a fun choice, but it can be overused at some point in the future- so that’s a warning to all future pantomime directors! The rest of the choices were eh… but however the villain/ensemble song being a mashup of Bills Bills Bills by Destiny’s Child and Money Money Money by ABBA still haunts me.
About you and the Newsies thing, funny thing, last year, we clashed with another theatre company who were doing Sister Act (we even referenced that!), and so, both of the theatre companies cannot be able to watch one another. This year, not so much.
Canterbury is in Kent😂
Canterbury is in Kent 😂
Am I, first?
Maybe think that using the lyrics, 'some of them want to be abused ' in the baddies song is not a great choice for a kid's show, very odd!
wait, do americans not have pantos?!?!?
We don’t! Christmas at the theatre is almost entirely The Nutcracker ballet
Or I guess A Christmas Carol if you’re lucky
@@KatieKruger8 the local ballet company Nutcracker is such a treat, but I normally have to divert my entertainment funds toward gift giving. Another live performance tradition in my middle America area is Madrigals-basically traditional music and Christmas music in Renaissance type clothing while audience can enjoy supper-but I have not gone since I still knew someone who needed to sell tickets.
There are a few in big cities, usually run by British people and with a long "What is panto?" explanation on their websites, but it's not really a thing that most people have even heard of.
*Offended Kent noises*
I FORGOT ABOUT KENT
Not you asking for cash tips for giving a review of a pantomime. Babe....
Very much not a demand, and something I say in all the videos I make and post almost daily that you can watch for free 😊
This review was such a joy to watch! As an Aussie that doesn’t get to see panto, it’s a pleasure to hear about.
Thanks!