✭✭✭✭✩

by Chris Earle, directed by Tracey Flye

Ross Petty Productions, Elgin Theatre, Toronto

December 3, 2015-January 3, 2016

“Petty’s Last Panto”

Ross Petty, the man who brought the British pantomime tradition to Toronto, ends his 20-year panto career on a high note with Peter Pan in Wonderland.  This Peter Pan is one of the best pantos Petty has ever presented.  Written with punch and smarts by Chris Earle, tightly directed by Tracey Flye and choreographed in a wide range of styles by Marc Kimelman, this show proves that the overused phrase “fun for the whole family” can really be true.  Though Petty will continue to produce his annual pantos, this is the last one in which the man you love to boo will appear.  

Looking at the title you might think there’s something amiss.  Shouldn’t it be Peter Pan in Neverland?  No, no, no.  This panto, quite unlike any of Petty’s previous pantos with Peter Pan, presents the iconic fairy-tale hero in an entirely new adventure.  Here, instead of roaming through his homeland of Neverland, Peter travels to Wonderland, the place best known to us from the travels of Lewis Carroll’s Alice. 

After a fairly confusing introduction to the concept of a fairy-tale mashup by Tweedle Dum (Eddie Glen) and Tweedle Dummer (Jessica Holmes), we meet Wendy (Steffi DiDomenicantonio, looking a lot like Liza Minelli), now living in present day Toronto, waiting yet again for a promised yearly visit from Peter Pan.  Instead a huge gift trunk is delivered.  When Wendy looks inside she falls into a magic wormhole that leads her directly to Wonderland.  The visiting “fairy in training” Tinkerbum (Dan Chameroy in his

pricelessly wacky Plumbum persona) reluctantly tumbles in after her.  Peter Pan (the engaging and athletic Anthony MacPherson) arrives too late and, learning what has happened from Nana the dog, follows after the two. 

We discover that Captain Hook (Ross Petty, of course) is already in Wonderland with his sidekick Smee (the ever funny Eddie Glen).  Hook’s nefarious plan is to find and open Mr. Dressup’s Tickle Trunk of Wonder.  (Television’s beloved Mr. Dressup, Ernie Coombs, appeared Petty’s Peter Pan in 2000, just a year before his death.)  The trunk can only be opened with magic flying dust, some of which Wendy has in a locket that Peter gave her long ago.  Hook has lured her to Wonderland to snatch the locket and open the trunk which will cause all fairy tale creatures to die.  One assumes Hook thinks he will be immune, but perhaps he hadn’t thought that far ahead. 

After many mix-ups and adventures, including Hook’s surprising marriage to the Queen, the show ends with the first Peter Pan Am Games presided over by the Queen of Hearts (a comically self-important Jessica Holmes), who has a terrible speech impediment that prevents her from pronouncing both Ls and Rs pwopawy.  On o

ne side are Peter, Wendy and three teens from the Canadian television series The Next Step – Jordan Clark as Alice, Taveeta Szymanowicz as the Cheshire Cat and Lamar Johnson as the Mad Hatter.  On the opposing side are Hook, Smee and various denizens of Neverland.  This leads to a fantastic exhibition of dance from Szymanowicz, contortion from Clark and amazing breakdancing from the charismatic Johnson.  The competition concludes with a jumprope contest in which MacPherson does tricks with a rope that can hardly be believed even when seen. 

As usual the show borrows hits from many eras.  There’s a great dance routine by the Next Step crew to “Uptown Funk”, a hilarious Celine Dion impression when the Queen of Hearts sings “My Heart Will Go On” and other dance numbers to “I Can Feel My Face” and “Shut Up and Dance”.  The jumprope contest plays out to Donna Summers’ “Hot Stuff” and Ross Petty’s final number as he slowly vanishes from sight is, appropriately, “My Way”. 

If you’ve never seen a panto, before, see this one.  If you have seen a Ross Petty panto before, this is one you cannot miss.  Not only is it great fun in itself and a showcase for a new generation of singers and dancers, it serves as a great tribute to Petty himself, who, through 20 years of these delightful entertainments, has brought so much joy to Toronto.   

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This review is a Stage Door exclusive. 

Photos: (from top) Ross Petty as Captain Hook; Dan Chameroy as Tinkerbum and Anthony MacPherson as Peter Pan; Jessica Holmes as the Queen of Hearts and Ross Petty as Captain Hook. ©2015 Ross Petty Productions.

For tickets, visit http://rosspetty.com.