We were off on adventure with three adults and seven children, ranging in ages from six to thirteen. We saw one granddaughter perform at the Puyallup Library and then visited son (Patrick) and daughter-in-law (Wendy) before heading to dinner at Mama Stortini's between Puyallup and Sumner. We've got to stop asking the grandchildren where they want to eat. They keep choosing Mama Stortini's lately. When our waitress presented the bill, she remarked how well-behaved the kids were. It must be mutual. I think the kids like good food and good service as much as we do.
After the adventure we were very careful to send home left-overs for each family group that joined us . . . and we had plenty of left-overs.
We must have done a bad job of explaining what we were going to do on the adventure because it wasn't until we turned into the parking lot at the Dumas Bay Community Center, that the kids figured out Pinocchio and the British Pantomime we were talking about were one and the same. Most had been to Sleeping Beauty the year before and had a ball. The chatter in the back seats of our Durango increased.
A "Panto" or British Pantomime is part play, part musical, part audience participation, and at its core: major broad humor. Tradition dictates there be a man playing a woman's part and a woman playing a man's part as well as cheering for the good people and hissing and cat calls for the bad people.
You never know what might happen. For example, not too many children's productions of Pinocchio would have the obstreporous little puppet showing his disdain for authority by peeing (back turned) off the ramparts of the castle and aiming for the king and his court. Kiddie Sunday school morality play this is not.
Daniel Wood played the (hiss, boo, hiss) villain of the play, Stromboli, who turns children who misbehave into donkeys. I've seen Wood before in Enchanted April at CenterStage, one of my favorite local productions. Wood stands head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. He's six foot tall, but appears to be six foot eight with this group.
Wood does a great job as the villain wrenching every laugh from the audience. At one point he threatens to kick us all out of the theater, but relents only when finds out that he would have to refund the ticket price.
I look forward to seeing him on stage again at CenterStage and elsewhere in the Puget Sound area.
We are so lucky to have Cornish College of the Arts in our backyard. They train many of our local actors. Hannah Mootz is a recent graduate.
Her characterization of Lampwick in Pinocchio was spot on. With a constant smirk and knowing eyebrow she represents a streetwise associate of Stromboli. She had great moves.
As a student at Cornish she appeared in many plays. She's written her own solo show and looks forward to a bright future in regional productions . . . if not even further afield.
Her upcoming show in April is ArtsWest's Exit Pursued by a Bear - “I Love Lucy” meets Jacobean revenge play meets feminist power ballad in this brilliantly dizzy, unpredictable comedy-drama.
Although we've enjoyed a number of productions at CenterStage including musical revues, we have never gone to their one person showcases. I really regret this after hearing Bob De Dea perform I Dreamed a Dream as Geppetta in Pinocchio. Bob performed an evening of Frank Sinatra songs early this year, which I'm guessing was wonderful.
Bob has appeared on TV commercials and other stage productions around Seattle and the Puget Sound region.
As Geppetta he was excellent. He was also the director of Aladdin, the first panto we had ever seen live.
After years of training, our granddaughters know the routine of productions. They charge off to have actors sign their programs and get their pictures taken as soon as the curtain comes down. They love it.
Pinocchio was a great production with lots of laughs and great music (from Black-Eyed Peas to the Bee Gees). Sam Barker as the King did a great job in the American's Got Talent lampoon, he sang Staying Alive, which of course posed a problem for Daniel Goodman as Pinocchio. As a judge Pinocchio was worried about lying and having his nose grow (which it would do right befor our eyes on stage). Geppetta told him to figure it out for himself, but to tell the truth. "You were unbelievable," he told the King. Barker played Nicely-Nicely in a local production of Guys and Dolls. I would have liked seeing that. Goodman will be playing in Klondike, a local show produced by Seattle's 5th Avenue, which will play at various schools in our area.
We look forward to our next adventure to CenterStage and other productions featuring some of the actors we saw on stage. What fun. The kids will enjoy them too, perhaps.
