Robin Hood: the Ottawa Christmas Panto has matured into a much more substantial performance without sacrificing any of the fun!!!

 

An  unexpected pleasure this  year. The panto seems to be geared for adults as much as for young ones with nasty jabs at Doug Ford, at Brexit,  at Ottawa’s   problematic light rail and much more to  titillate the adults .There was also an  extremely naughty Nanny Annie, the ‘dame’ played  by the  irreplaceable  Constant Bernard   who is supposed to be Maid Marion’s  nursemaid while flirting outrageously with certain males in the audience  and launching  jokes  meant for fun-loving adults only!.  The Brilliant panto dame, our Ninny Nanny   is back in Ottawa now after an absence of 2 years.  It is such a pleasure to find her still sporting that great voice which  takes over the whole  theatre,  a stage presence  that crushes everyone else and a magic that turns her  whacky costume into a chef d’oeuvre of grotesque  pop art  à la Cirque du Soleil  thanks to costume designer  Lu-Anne Connell’s magical sense of humour .

Somehow,  the story of Robin Hood battling the evil prince John who has usurped the throne from his crusaiding brother Richard  and is  overtaxing the peasants  still appears  recognizable but much  more interesting are the liberties that this madcap theatre troup has dared to take with the show.

 

Two of the campiest villains imaginable (Shelley Simester as the slithery evil   Prince John who cant stand the sickening presence of so many smelly children )  and Andy Allen-McCarthy  (as the Sherriff of Nottingham) who flips his blond curls and shows us just  much he adores performing and being booed by the chaotic audience, always ready to oblige these two  nasties.  The villainous duo  is beautifully orchestrated,  written and choreographed.  Next to them, their alter egos  the good Robin Hood ( Chad Connell) and the even goodlier little John , seemed rather subdued and had a bit of difficulty finding their own styles so overpowering were the villains and so utterly  straight were the good guys.   However, it had to be that way I suppose. After all this is not yet Mel Brooks even if  the company seems to be leaning in that direction. And more power to them!!!!

Will Scarlet, a flaming redhead with a golden voice  sung by Cara Pantalone is again a great musical  narrative presence who can also act!    Maid Marion is the feisty young lady  with a fine voice but not quite as powerful as the others,  is totally into the contemporary mode of young women who  take over the situation, plan all the escapes  and refuse to  put up with any sexist  nonsense!! And lets not forget our little Selfie, the talented Declan Cassidy  who grows taller every  year and whose voice becomes stronger.

Writer Mark Allan has produced a fun- filled scenario which  gives the young audience lots of chance to participate in spite of the adult orientation of portions of the show. The musical numbers are especially successful with the mixture of serious dancing and physical parody.   I wont spoil the surprises but there are many and all done with much  professional  energy.  Especially  exciting were the adaptations of HEROES,  the ballet  Swan Lake  and many well known songs and melodies  that were transformed into Robin hood  musical numbers  that had us howling with laughter.  Much thanks to the very talented  musician   Wendy Berkelaar on keyboard  whose musical direction and adaptation are, as always,  excellent.  Also important was the  original music by  Jonathan Evans .

This year’s panto has moved up a few notches  in  complexity,  in musical ambition and artistic design, with their video. For example,  instead of invading a local restaurant, they brought us through the  halls and stairways of the Canadian Museum of  Nature ,  highlighting  the beautiful architecture of the building . All that remained was to see those huge dinosaurs  coming to life with a blood curdling roar.  Maybe next time, but for the moment the excitement written into the performance is all they need.

Written by Mark Allan

Directed by Matt Cassidy

Musical director Wendy  Berkelaar (on Keyboard)

Costumes and set design  Lu-Anne Connell

Choreographer Jessica Vandenberg

Original music and lyrics by Jonathan  Evans

Drums   PIerre Huneault

Electric Bass  Gabriel Leury

Little John   Mark Allan

Sheriff  Andy Allen-McCarthy

Nanny Annie  Constant Bernard

Selfie   Declan Cassidy

Robin Hood  Chad Connell

Will Scarlet  Cara Pantalone

Prince John  Shelley Simester

king Richard  (varies with the performance!!)

an Ottawa Musical  production  www.OttawaMusicals,com