Holidays take centre stage
Morpheus Theatre returns this month with its annual holiday pantomime — this time, Aladdin.
Pantomimes are a popular form of theatrical entertainment in England during the Christmas season. They are essentially over-the-top, broadly comic productions of fairy tales.
Audience participation is a hallmark of the genre, as is the “Dame” character, which involves a male actor playing a female part, usually a comic caricature of an old woman.
The “principal boy” is also present in every pantomime. It sees a young woman playing a male role. In Aladdin, for example, a woman takes the title role.
“Pantomimes are constantly changing and evolving,” says director Jane Phillips Taylor, who remembers watching pantomimes as a child in England.
References to contemporary celebrities, sports teams or politicians pop up in pantomimes and, the scripts are designed to provide opportunities to insert local content.
So, even though Morpheus’s Aladdin is set in Peking, China, don’t be surprised to hear the Calgary Flames mentioned.
“Pantomime pokes fun at all sorts of things,” says Phillips Taylor. “The audience is not expected to sit quiet during the show. They are expected to boo the baddie every time he comes on stage.”
Pantomimes are for family audiences, as there is content to make children laugh and, also, humour of a more adult nature to entertain the parents, says Phillips Taylor.
Oh, and expect plenty of contemporary pop music sprinkled throughout the show, despite Aladdin’s oldworld China setting. The evil sorcerer, Abanazer, for example, breaks out singing Michael Jackson’s Bad.
“Our goal is to make people laugh throughout the show,” Phillips Taylor says.
Aladdin: A Pantomime runs from Dec. 13 to 22 at the Pumphouse Theatres.
Tickets and information: morpheustheatre.ca or 403246-2999.
White Christmas — Storybook Theatre
Storybook Theatre debuts its new theatre space in the Beddington Heights Community Centre (now the Beddington Heights Community Arts Centre) with a staged version of the Irving Berlin Christmas classic White Christmas.
The 1954 film version stars Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby, and features iconic tunes such as I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas, Blue Skies and Sisters.
“We wanted a big family Christmas event that everybody in the community could come out and enjoy and learn about the new space,” says artistic director and White Christmas producer George Smith.
The story involves two Second World War vets — Bob Wallace and Phil Davis — who have formed a successful song-and-dance act following the war. They end up at a Vermont lodge, owned by their former army commander, that is on the brink of being forced to shut down.
Romance ensues when Bob and Phil get involved with the singing sister duo performing at the lodge. The four team up to help the general save his inn.
Not that the story is the star attraction, says Smith.
“You come for the Irving Berlin songs. Some of his best music is in this show,” he says.
“It’s one of those old Broadway movie musicals where there’s a lot of singing and dancing and cheesy lines and it’s a lot of fun.”
The show will take place in the new, 200-seat theatre Storybook and Front Row Centre Players have built in the Beddington Heights Community Centre, the new headquarters for the two theatre organizations.
Storybook has been able to secure a 15-year lease on the centre, making it Storybook’s first “permanent” home in its 36-year history.
White Christmas runs until Dec. 16 in the Beddington Heights Community Arts Centre (375 Bermuda Dr. N.W.).
Tickets and information: storybooktheatre.org or 403-216-0808.
Something Christmas
— ARCS
Last, but certainly not least, the Adult Recreational Choir Society of Calgary is presenting a choral “love in” for Christmas.
Three of the five choirs that form ARCS — up2something (a mixed choir), up2christmas (a women’s choir) and something different (an auditioned ensemble) — are joining forces to stage Something Christmas.
Besides an extensive program of fifteen numbers — including a “spinetingling” finale of O Holy Night featuring a combined choir of 150 voices — audience carolling is part of the experience.
Something Christmas takes place Dec. 9 at River Park Church (3818 – 14A St. S.W.)
Tickets and information: up2something.com.