A diverse audience of both children and adults laughed, sang and joked with actors at the opening night performance of 'Cinderella: An Original Pantomime Fairytale' on Friday, Dec. 6.
The interactive theatrical genre is new to Northeast Pennsylvania and rare in the United States.
The Scranton Shakespeare Festival, a performing arts nonprofit, produced its first pantomime play in 2022. It’s a British Christmastime tradition.
It’s catching on here as the theater company expands its education and performances beyond Shakespeare.
What is panto?
Pantomimes, referred to as “panto” for short, are original works based on fairytales. Actors exaggerate their characters and elicit responses from the audience.
“I liken it to like Monty Python meets the Muppets,” said Joe McGurl, director of the show.
Pantomime plays always include jokes only locals would understand.
“We in Scranton I think have the same kind of comedic sensibilities as a lot of like British humor,” McGurl said. “It's very self-deprecating, very self-referential. We mention Nina's [Wing Bites &] Pizza and Colarusso’s [Cafe], and even WVIA — we mention [longtime host] Erika Funke.”
Pantomimes are performed around the holidays, and they typically include an actor in drag known as the “dame.” This year there are two.
Conor McGuigan of Scranton plays one of Cinderella’s stepsisters, Kendall and Kylie. The duo flaunts and flirts with the other characters using physical comedy and funny voices.
“It always plays up the funny local things that only exist in Liverpool, versus Newcastle, versus Blackpool, [England],” McGuigan said. “So they might play up the accents.”
He describes his character as a “hardscrabble West sider.”
The stepsisters, played by McGuigan and Jimmy Williams, sing “It’s Raining Men” and a Scranton rendition of “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera.
Bringing panto to Scranton
The Scranton Shakespeare Festival began in 2011 with a production of “A Midsummer Night's Dream” at Nay Aug Park.
The annual festival provides free entertainment and features talent from across the country and the globe.
The nonprofit now offers a Youth Ensemble and student orchestra program, and has expanded its programming beyond Shakespeare.
Michael Bradshaw Flynn is co-founder and producing artistic director.
“We're doing a lot of ambitious programming, but the community has been there for us and has grown with us,” he said.
Jonathan Stevens, an actor from England who has been involved in the festival for years, introduced the idea of putting on a pantomime in Scranton. The play was written by Billie Aken-Tyers, also from the U.K. and involved through the festival.
She also wrote the first-ever Scranton panto, “Snow White and the Seven Scrantonians.”
It was the first show produced in the Shakes Space, located in the Marketplace at Steamtown.
“Just being able to have a home is such an incredible asset to something as adolescent as our organization is,” Flynn said.
The venue was gifted to the nonprofit by the owner of The Marketplace at Steamtown, John Basalyga.
The space can be configured several ways with up to 200 seats. It was once an American Eagle Outfitters.
“It’s nice because we already have private dressing rooms,” said costume designer Dawn McGurl, pointing to the former fitting rooms.
“Now that we have a space we're trying to produce year-round, not just in the summer,” she added.
Scranton Shakespeare Festival will present “Spring Awakening” in January, its first ever alumni production featuring graduates of the Youth Ensemble program, which started in 2020. In March, the group will present “The Shadow of a Gunman.”
‘By Scranton, for Scranton’
"For the panto, we're really passionate about having all local community members and ensuring that this show is by Scranton, for Scranton," said director Joe McGurl.
The references are abundant and random, from the Archbald Pothole to notorious killer Hugo Selenski.
LaToya Martin plays the Fairy Godmother, Nanny Tinkle. Her character breaks the fourth wall a few times as she tells the audience stories.
“I love to feel the audience participation,” the actress said. “It makes everything come alive.”
Martin sings Lizzo’s “Good as Hell” to give Cinderella a confidence boost before the ball.
McGuigan, who has been in all three Scranton pantos, is glad the show is on for two weekends this year.
“It's becoming a Scranton tradition, because I see the same people coming over and over now,” he said. “It really is like fun for the kids, jokes for mom and dad. And it just really is great to see how much the community has embraced it.”
"Cinderella: An Original Pantomime Fairytale"
Scranton Shakes Space
The Marketplace at Steamtown
300 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton
- Saturday, Dec. 7, at 6 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m.
- Thursday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m.
- Friday, Dec. 13, at 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 14, at 6 p.m.
