Theatre
Cinderella
Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre, Ta’ Qali
Many enjoy traditional plot lines with a bit of a twist and nothing spells time-honoured Christmas entertainment more than a pantomime.
MADC’s latest offering is Cinderella, one of my favourite stories for panto adaptation because it is one of the few which has two dames instead of one, both being nasty but comic characters – the ugly sisters, while the role of benevolent dame is taken by a male character, Buttons.
This year, those roles were taken by Michael Mangion as Dulcey and Jean Pierre Busuttil as Duda – two hilarious sisters who, along with their mother Baroness Kifuża (Isabel Warrington) try to make Cinderella’s life miserable. Rather predictably, one is tal-pepe and the other a ħamalla, in a combination which still works because panto expects the dames to be over the top.
The Mangion-Busuttil duo had a great dynamic and their scenes with the sleazy Italian tax collectors Melħa (Rambert Attard) and Bżaru (Jeremy Grech) who end up being their love interests, are particularly funny. So too are the ones with their mother, played with great gusto by my favourite panto villain Warrington, whose Baroness Kifuża is a satirical jibe at Malta’s cowboy contractors.
Tedesco Triccas took the new Disney motto from the live action film to heart and gave an interpretation of Cinderella which was both courageous and kind, but so very gently and positively that one couldn’t help but take an instant liking to her
Buttons was in the able hands of young comedian James Ryder – whose faux-naïveté hides a cheeky charm, while panto veterans Francesca Briffa and Renato Dimech played a flightless Fairy Godmother and Cinder’s henpecked father, Baron Flooseless, respectively. Both Briffa and Dimech make being bumbling and clumsy endearing and fit into their indulgent but absent-minded relationship with Cinderella (Rachael Tedesco Triccas) very easily.
Tedesco Triccas took the new Disney motto from the live action film to heart and gave an interpretation of Cinderella which was both courageous and kind, but so very gently and positively that one couldn’t help but take an instant liking to her.
Indeed, she was one of the most sensitively portrayed panto heroines I have seen in a while and she actually managed to avoid being saccharine sweet but was still lovely. Her encounter with Sandie Von Brockdorff’s Prince Ħelu Ħafna in the endangered woods takes the best parts of a cliché and makes them work. The prince swaps places with his flamboyant manservant Dandini (Francesco Nicodeme) and pretends to be his confidant – which allows him to get close to the gentle cinders without intimidating her.
Von Brockdorff and Tedesco Triccas both have exceptionally good voices and their duets were particularly enjoyable to hear. Indeed, vocal coach Roger Tirazona and musical director Paul Abela were both fortunate to have such a strong cast including the chorus, while also managing to create very pleasant arrangements to some very popular songs.
The upbeat music was accompanied by Nicodeme’s sharp choreography and had Romualdo Moretti’s exceptional sets as a backdrop. The pumpkin carriage and horses was beautifully stylised in fretwork and had a strong element of picture-book illustration in its elegance. It soared across the stage taking Cinderella to the ball in as magical a manner as possible.
So too were the costumes designed by Warrington, from the zany dames’ get-ups to Cinders’ transformation from rags to stunning ball gown – the dress was as ingenious as it was pretty in its gossamer sparkle.
Director Chris Gatt made the most of Marylu Coppini’s traditional script and has given their audiences a panto which harks back to its traditional roots and is high on its classic entertainment value. Definitely one for the kiddies this year.
Jean Pierre Busuttil (left) and Michael Mangion as the dames Duda and Dulcey.