Theatre
Pinocchio
Manoel Theatre

Finding new stories for panto fodder can be hard this time of year – the dilemma is whether to stick to a tried-and-tested fairy tale and go down the traditional route, or dare to try something new, with revamped canonical stories which have rarely been taken down the panto route.

FM Theatre Productions have done just this with their Pinocchio, running until January 4. A scriptwriting team made up of Edward Mercieca, Luke Mercieca, Chris Gatt and Kris Spiteri concocted a script loosely based on Collodi’s 1883 children’s story and, of course, its 1940s Disneyfication.

Adding more than a smattering of Maltese flavour, the script came across as a bit of a cobbled construct. With no princess and prince/ lovable rouge to function as principal girl and boy, these two characters and their backstory had to be created from scratch and added to the plot line along with the Dame and the cast of original characters.

With a rather uneven script and several main characters, this adaptation made for interesting viewing because it functioned on the level of an engaging children’s story. So it did cater for its major target audience but left me, as an adult, feeling a tad ambivalent about its natural cohesiveness.

It did, of course, have some great panto moments – with Mercieca’s Dame Saltimbocca, the village baker drawing the laughs as a zany, saucy woman who fancies one of the minor baddies, Joe De­pasquale’s menacing Stromboli, the village sheriff employed by the Evil Queen, Konra De Mitz (Tara-Louise Zammit) to prevent the villagers from laughing or enjoying themselves.

Mercieca’s Dame made the most of her funny one-liners and got the audience going

Meanwhile, his two henchmen, Fettucini the Fox (Michael Mangion) and Fusilli the Cat (Antonella Mifsud) have plans of their own when they discover that Toy-maker Geppetto’s (Renato Dimech) wish to have a son is granted by the Blue Fairy (Larissa Bonaci).

Geppetto’s wooden puppet, Pinocchio (Myron José Agius) is transformed into a living boy, but not yet a real one – because he must strive to do good and be pure of heart to become real.

To this end, the Blue Fairy instructs his cousin Jimmy (David Chircop), the panto version of Jiminy Cricket, to act as his guide and conscience – a task the happy-go-lucky and general nice guy Jimmy does not feel up to.

Meanwhile, Dame Saltimbocca’s son Fonzi – yes, the guy has a Happy Days moniker, played by Niki Andrejevic – meets Maxine Aquil­ina’s Princess Esmeralda and it’s love at first sight.

The Princess has been under the care of her evil aunt, Konra, who had banished her mother, the good queen, years before.

When the two young lovers first meet, they sing Love is an Open Door from last year’s Disney hit film Frozen, and vow to elope at the annual festival and defy Konra’s desire for Esmeralda to marry Stromboli, channelling the spirit of a dozen Brazilian soap opera plots.

The song choices and musical element were strong under Kris Spiteri’s direction and Cathy Lawlor’s vocal coaching, with the chorus being on form and the main characters’ renditions of popular tunes fun to see staged in full panto version – with no expense spared in a series of lavish performances.

I particularly enjoyed the opening song as well as the Evil Queen’s rendition of Poison, which showcased Ms Zammit’s great singing voice. It was a pity that Bonaci’s version of Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off was marred by a sound fault ruining the amplification of an otherwise well-delivered song, and it was to her credit that Bonaci, true to her character as a positive magical creature, did not give up and soldiered on – finishing her piece to the applause of an appreciative audience.

The song accompanying the task where two adults were brought up on stage was brilliant – a version of The Twelve Days of Christmas which had loads of local flavour with good political jibes and comments about events which took place over the past year. The Song Sheet revived another classic Disney tune from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Dick van Dyke’s Me Ol’ Bamboo – making it a fun tongue twister which the entire audience was familiar with.

With choreography by Jean-Marc Cafà and special choreography by Bertu Fossa, the cast was sharp and clean in its moves and Louie Noir’s specialty costumes, especially Pinocchio’s elongating nose, added a touch of true stage magic to the piece. The Dame’s creations, coupled with hair and wigs by Michael and Guy, were as hilarious as they were OTT.

Chris Gatt’s set and light design completed the storybook feel of the production, in particular the festival and luminous walk-down scenes. Mercieca’s Dame made the most of her funny one-liners and got the audience going, as did David Chircop’s endearing Jimmy, whose subtle fancy for the bumbling but well-intentioned Blue Fairy, which Bonaci portrayed very well, was good to watch in terms of their dynamics.

These echoed Aquilina’s sweet and highly-likeable Esmeralda, whose good voice buoyed up Mr Andrejevic’s cool Fonzi. Geppetto found the perfect voice in Mr Dimech while the promising young Myron José Agius gave a solid performance as the impressionable but earnest Pinocchio who strives to do good in spite of the setbacks he encounters from the rascally fox and cat.

In spite of its occasionally tangled plot, Pinocchio made for a well-presented panto and was positively received by its audience.

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