Nottinghams
The PLTC panto uses Robin Hood as the vehicle for an exuberant evening of songs, puns, physical comedy and positive messages for the whole family.
People's Light & Theatre Company made a brave move three years ago when it shelved a popular, artistically exquisite production of A Christmas Carol after two sold-out runs to launch a new holiday tradition, the panto.
Adapted from the beloved British form, the PLTC panto uses a familiar story — Robin Hood, last year's Jack And The Beanstalk, and Sleeping Beauty in 2004 — as the vehicle for an exuberant evening of songs, puns, contemporary references, physical comedy and positive messages for the whole family. It's the first real competition to Charles Dickens' familiar ghost story that doesn't comment on it — and, in fact, doesn't reference religious or secular Christmas (let's face it, in our culture it's two holidays in one) at all. The panto is a wholesomely irreverent, nondenominational theatrical celebration.
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Scripted by Kathryn Petersen with original music by Vince di Mura, Robin Hood shows the form growing more ambitious. Erin Weaver, last year's Barrymore-nominated Jack, returns as Robin, leading a "merry band" in Sherwood Forest that's both medieval vigilantes and hippie rockers, splendiferously costumed in tie-dye tights and Converse high-tops by Rosemarie McKelvey. Arch-nemesis the Sheriff of Nottingham (Carl Wallnau, sporting something sparkly and teal from Liberace's closet) arrests Robin's mother, Maud (a hilarious Mark Lazar, in spectacular bosom-enhancing dresses), who runs the Burp & Fizzle Inn, hoping to draw Robin out by threatening to hang her. His ultimate goal, however, is to burn down Sherwood Forest — cartoonishly rendered by James F. Pyne Jr. — to build a mall.
The joyously silly performances, directed by David Bradley, include Christopher Patrick Mullen's elastic Midge Miller the Miller and Susan McKey as long-suffering wife Madge, Tom Teti as tipsy Friar Tuck, John O'Hara as dim-witted Little John, Jessica Ball as love-smitten Heloise, Marla Burkholder as Marion the barmaid, and Mark del Guzzo as the Sheriff's beleaguered nephew Mortimer.
Petersen's script mixes puns (Tuck drinks "St. Margaret Mead"), contemporary references (will gold stolen from the rich go to PETA or Habitat for Humanity?), and family-friendly themes ranging from women's rights, economic inequality, urban sprawl and eminent domain to the importance of flossing in a fast-moving story culminating in an appropriately silly yet suspenseful battle and a surprisingly thoughtful ending. Whew! It's the theatrical equivalent of a carnival ride. Add candy, audience participation and the requisite pie-in-the-face, and you've got a panto — A Christmas Carol's worthy successor.
Robin Hood
Through Dec. 31, People's Light & Theatre Co., 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern, 610-644-3500, www.peopleslight.org
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