What's a good subject for an American (British Style) Pantomime?

[Pab Sungenis]

Reading the coverage of John Inman's death revived my interest in the British Pantomime tradition.

I've often thought about writing a panto, it seems like it would be an enjoyable challenge, but I really don't want to just retread the classic stories. Rather, I think it would be interesting to actually write a truly American panto from the ground up, with American sensibilities and themes and an American story behind it all.

I'm picturing something in the tradition of Dick Whittington, taking something from American history or American folklore that would lend itself to being turned into a fairy tale and build the panto from that.

Two that came to mind rather quickly were Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan. I had thought about Rip Van Winkle and John Henry, but one of the conventions of panto is that you have to have a happy ending and be suitable for kids. Someone else suggested Ben Franklin, but as since he was a Rationalist I don't think the supernatural elements traditional to panto would work in a story about him.

Anybody have any suggestions? What American historical figure, or character/story from folklore, would best lend his/herself to a fairy tale and panto play?

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. You could start with Parson Weems

He's the "biographer" who made up stories about George Washington, including the cherry tree incident. Do a Google search; he will be under that name or his given name, Mason Locke Weems.

For folklore, a panto version of "Annie Get Your Gun" (about Annie Oakley) would be fun. Or draw on the very rich Native American traditions; anything with Coyote practically begs to be told in bawdey song and dance. Or write up something from the "bragging" tradition of American story-telling. You've probably heard of winters so cold fire froze, and the family chopped up the flames and kept the pieces in the ice-house through spring; they would go out and get a bit, let it thaw and use it to light candles. Or the farm land so rich, you could plant a pumpkin seed into the soil and get a rollercoaster ride on the vine as it immediately and very quickly sprouted and grew.

[Lisa]

2. in early 2001, a friend and I attempted to write a version of "Robin Hood"

... which cast Bush and Cheney as the baddies (incompetent and villanous, respectively). We ended up shelving it because 9/11 kind of threw things into disorder (and subsequent events were too sad to be funny!). But I think you're definitely onto something -- some (if not all) of the British pantomime might translate quite well. (There have been numerous successful productions in Canada, which in terms of pop culture is more like the US than England.)

The younger kids would like the audience interactions and slapstick, and the older kids and grownups would like the social and political comments. Funny you mentioned Johnny Appleseed, because that's the first one that popped into my mind (and environmental themes are hot these days!).

Real historical characters -- Paul Revere? A funny look at the background leading up to the historic ride? Paul's still the hero, but has a bumbling comic sidekick, and of course a snobby aristocratic villain. (I think a couple of children's books have already had a go at the situation.)


How about regional interest? Where you are might help suggest some possibilities. TechBear mentioned Native American legends. This website lists characters I'd never heard of (like Alfred Bulltop Stormalong, on the East Coast). And Davy Crockett's girlfriend, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind.

http://www.americanfolklore.net/ff.html

[Pab Sungenis]

3. Interesting you mentioned satire.

I started writing a satire based on "Alice In Wonderland" about Bush no less than five times since 2003. I eventually gave it up because every time I had something good on paper he'd do something more outrageous and stupid, and I'd have to go back and start over with fresh material.

Johnny Appleseed would also fit panto very well, since John Chapman was a follower of Emmanuel Swedenborg and saw himself as much an evangelist spreading the Gospel as he did spreading apples. Thus, religious (supernatural overtones) wouldn't be completely out of place in a story of the fictional Johnny Appleseed. The Good Fairy replaced by an angel and the Bad Fairy with the Devil, say. And it is a natural setting for an environmentally conscious tale.

As for the viability of panto in America, I do think it has a shot. A number of years ago I performed in a children's theater production of "The Wizard Of Oz" which was pantomime in all ways but the music. Audience participation and callbacks, good versus evil, and even though we used a woman you could still tell that the part of Glinda was envisioned for a Dame. It was the only children's theater production mounted by the company that I was with at the time to sell out every single show, and get a lot of repeat business.

I doubt we'll ever get American kids to chant "OH, NO IT ISN'T!" by rote, but the genre has potential here.

[Lisa]

4. they'd love the booing and hissing part, though!

And screaming "look behind you!" when the good guy's in danger seems to cross international boundaries. Even the coolest and most aloof kids love actors who get into the audience participation thing.

Speaking of Johnny Appleseed, have you seen Michael Pollan's take on the story? It's part of his book "The Botany of Desire" (the part about apples), but it was published in Harper's Magazine a while ago.

I love the idea about the angel and devil! And it might be entertaining to work in some modern characteristics (the angel as a back-to-the-land eco-hippie, and the devil as a slick corporate Monsanto type, say?).


p.s. what were you thinking of calling your Bush piece -- Malice in Blunderland?

And the idea of Glinda as a Dame actually makes a lot more sense to me than the movie depiction of her ... I never found that character particularly interesting, but Glinda as played by John Inman ... yes, I can definitely imagine that! (I wonder if the author of "Wicked" was thinking along those lines too ... he actually mentions a Dame-like figure who is featured in the Oz equivalent of Christmas ... no Santa Claus there, but a Good Fairy who is always portrayed by a man.)

[Pab Sungenis]

5. The title was going to be "The Wonderland Files"

and I had such stuff planned as having all the news delivered by rabbits, each dressed differently with different colored ears and such, and everyone saying different things. The White Rabbit would be spouting the party line, and by the end all the rabbits, even the caterpillar (who I was modeling on Howard Stern) would be wearing white ears and saying the exact same thing.

Bush was the Red Queen/Queen Of Hearts character, and in the middle of Act One everyone would be going apeshit over the fact that someone knocked down the Queen's house of cards. Of course, ten minutes later, that would all be forgotten because...someone stole the tarts! We have to bring the tart stealer to justice! After a while, the Queen would march through trailing a huge banner announcing "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" as the Knave was led off in chains.

The Knave's trial would be near the end of Act Two, and we would find out that not only didn't the Knave steal the tarts, there were no tarts to begin with! And all the evidence suggests that the Queen herself knocked down the house of cards. But the Queen distracts everyone by announcing a need to go to war with the land next door, because they are developing weapons of mass destruction, including horror-inducing battle armor! (One of the assistants would then hold up a picture of the Tin Man from Oz.) The last thing Alice sees before waking up is the "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner, with the words crossed out and the words "WE'VE ONLY JUST BEGUN" written below it.

The basic plot was easy enough to write, but all the topical references kept having to shift. At different points I had Michael Moore as the Mock Turtle, Stern as the caterpillar as mentioned above, and a Mad Tea Party populated by Mike Malloy as the Mad (As Hell) Hatter, Randi Rhodes as the March Hare, and Al Franken as the Dormouse. Then, as the stuff from the White House just kept getting stranger and stranger, I found I could no longer keep up with it all, and nothing I could write would ever be as funny or disturbing as reality.

Definitely not a kids' show.

I'm liking the Johnny Appleseed idea more and more. We could have his interactions with Native Americans provide a chorus number opportunity. The Devil could double in a number of different roles including a businessman and (in an Ugly Stepsister role) a temptress who tries to woo Johnny away from the Principal Girl and his mission. Don't know who I'd have as the Dame role or who would be the comedy duo, but they're often just tangential to the real plot anyhow.

[Lisa]

6. I ran your Johnny Appleseed idea past a British expatriate ...

Out of all the American folklore characters I mentioned (had to give her quick background on several of them because she'd heard completely different stories in childhood) -- Johnny Appleseed was the one she picked as the best fit for a panto, without any prompting from me! She thinks your plan is great, and wishes you much success!

Actually my friend is pretty far into the back-to-the-land thing herself -- I was over at her place today, and she and her husband made butter in the kitchen while I watched (sure, it was in a food processor, but they pressed it into shape with paddles and served some of it to me proudly, on a slice of homemade bread!). Her husband cackled wickedly and did a great impression of a villainous land baron out to crush Johnny's rustic sustainable idyll (in Bush's voice, of course). This was only slightly ruined when he paused to give treats to the cat.

She suggested that the Dame could be the dotty ol' mum of either Johnny, the Principal Girl, or his bumbling helper? Supposedly Chapman (the historical person) did have a younger brother, but that the boy wasn't with him during his "Appleseed" travels. Could always take poetic license, though ($30 registration fee at City Hall).

Anyway, the thought of the Devil tarted up like a frontier floozy is quite funny! Especially if the audience has already seen him as a slick yuppie. And is there going to be a pantomime animal? That was my friend's favorite part of any production -- as a child she thought the antics of the human players were rather silly, but she loved the animals. The "Jack and the Beanstalk" one I saw in Toronto years ago had a cow, but when I googled Johnny Appleseed, the animals (besides the mosquitoes and rattlesnakes he refused to kill) were horses (saved from being mistreated or put down), wolves, and bears (saved from traps or sharing winter quarters with them).


p.s. other regional folklore characters -- by coincidence, I found a reference to another one today ... a tall-tale-telling postman named Hathaway Jones, in Oregon. He specialized in wild stories about extreme weather (e.g. losing his pocketwatch in the snow, then finding it after spring thaw ... 60 feet up in a tree ... and apparently the snow accumulation in the Cascades can be that high!)