Silly, sensational 'Cinderella'

For its 10th annual panto, People's Light and Theatre Company reprises its most successful venture into that festive British form: 2008's Cinderella. For audiences (with or without children) who missed the Barrymore-winning show its first time around, and those curious about all the panto fuss, the return engagement helps explain why this theatrical variant has been a holiday favorite across the pond since the 18th century.

Despite its name, the panto - shortened from pantomime - has nothing to do with silent mimes, and everything to do with a raucous good time. And despite its unconventional nature, certain panto conventions always prevail. For much the same reason Jerry Springer's crew tosses candy to his audiences, panto cast members wander the aisles hurling treats and coaxing enthusiasm from reluctant viewers. Audience participation - hoots and hollers, boos and hisses - is mandatory, making this an excellent post-nog night out.

The central character in panto's playbook is the Dame, a big, burly man in a dress leading the proceedings and ensuring our enjoyment. In Cinderella as in every People's Light panto, Mark Lazar reigns as Philly's own big-hearted, even bigger-busted and -bottomed Dame. Here, he's Hazel Opfinder, Cinderella's dear, departed mother and Oliver's (Tom Teti) adored first wife. When he's reincarnated as both a tree and the bluebird of happiness, costumer Rosemarie McKelvey supplies plenty of feathers for both getups.

With a book by Kathryn Petersen - she's written seven pantos - and music by Michael Ogborn (Box Office of the Damned, Baby Case), who with Petersen wrote the 2009 and 2010 pantos Treasure Island and The Three Musketeers, this Cinderella bends its source material into a Jazz Age extravaganza. After its debut, the production won four Barrymore Awards (overall production of a musical, direction of a musical, original music, and best ensemble in a musical), and perhaps because of its surprising blend of tradition and innovation, with much of that cast and crew intact, it's still the best of them all.

Rounding out the population of "Malvernistan," there's Kim Carson's Ella; an Our Gang-style band of helpful street animals; two evil flapper stepsisters, Poisianna and Invasia; and a blues-singing stepmother, Lucretia Loosestrife (Joilet Harris). As directed by Peter Pryor, Susan McKey's Poisianna, slump-shouldered, bobbed, and sucking on an opera-length cigarette holder, joined by Leah Poyo's nose-digging Invasia, garner plenty of laughs, while Harris encourages the haters to pile on with extra relish.

But Jeff Coon and Christopher Patrick Mullen as Prince Aidan and his unfaithful valet Barnaby again run away with the production, both figuratively and literally. A fabulous onstage vaudeville duet, "It Ain't Easy Bein' Me," and Jorge Cousineau's silent film of their offstage battle for Ella's glass slipper, set to Ryan Touhey's piano accompaniment, keep even attention-deficient youngsters and oldsters laughing throughout.

Congratulations to People's Light on 10 years of doing the "Malvernistan Drag," and drawing a generation of holiday revelers to their fine Dame's ample bosom and warm embrace.

Cinderella

Through Jan. 12 at People's Light and Theatre Company, 39 Conestoga Rd., Malvern.

Tickets: $35-$50

Information: 610-644-3500 or www.PeoplesLight.org

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