Theatre
Alice in Wonderland
Manoel Theatre

When I sneaked into the Manoel Theatre last week, to get a sneak preview of Masquerade’s latest panto, I was pleasantly surprised by the changes made to the theatre auditorium itself, but all the more so by the incredible work that goes into staging this very seasonal entertainment staple.

Very often audiences forget the large amount of time and effort, not to mention the patience that the cast, crew and creatives put into the development before presenting the finished product.

The dame played by Malcolm Galea.

This year, the story to get the panto treatment by Malcolm Galea was Alice in Wonderland. Galea’s script sees the creation of a dame in the guise of Alice’s nanny, Nanny O’Beezwax, played by Galea himself. This zany Irish nanny is the young girl’s solace in a household dominated by her strict mother (Katherine Brown) and her henpecked father (Daryl Ebejer).

Following her pet White Rabbit (Joseph Zammit) down a rabbit hole, Alice (Jasmine Farrugia) finds herself in a world of wonderment filled with characters as crazy as her nanny, who intrepidly follows them too.

Drawing inspiration from various Alice adaptations, Galea’s Wonderland is a mixture of Tenniel, Disney, Burton and Kitsis-Horowitz in its setting, and Marco Bartolo’s set design has a wildness that Carroll would have approved of. Like the latter three, he has blended the two Alice books and brought several of the characters from each, together.

This includes Tweedle Dee (Rebecca Brincat) and Tweedle Dum (Maria Eleonora Schembri) as the Queen of Hearts’ henchmen, with the Jack of Hearts (Tina Rizzo) being under her spell and in her control. Her control stems from the Mad Hatter (Stephen Oliver) and March Hare’s (Chiara Hyzler) obedience spell which she forces them to produce for her, serving as her means of wielding power over Wonderland.

With no traditional fairy in sight in a land of muddled magic, Mandy Randon’s Cheshire Cat takes on the role instead and gives a slick performance which is part cheeky Carroll invention, part Puss-in-boots and part Whittington, with a subtle nod at Eliot and Lloyd Webber.

Randon’s playful Cheshire Cat was a storybook cat through and through. Rizzo’s Jack of Hearts was a charming downtrodden hero and matched Farrugia’s self-assured Alice in a strong dynamic. Brown shone as always in her role as the mad, bad and dangerous Queen of Hearts, proving once again that character doubling is a clever skill as she plays the fantastical alter-ego of her repressive role as Mother – played out in Alice’s fantasy.

Ebejer is an interesting newcomer to musical theatre, with his rock and roll background compensating for his fledgling acting skills.

Oliver and Hyzler make a great duo of insane inventors and their dynamic, coupled with that of Zammit’s White Rabbit is fun to watch.

This was a scene I saw several times, which showcased vocal coach Kristina Gatt Frendo and choreographer Sue Vassallo’s incredibly string input in the show, along with the chorus’s strong discipline and well-practised routines.

Indeed, director Anthony Bezzina was constantly tweaking and fixing, blocking and repeating until the staging fit his near-obsessive attention to detail, which in theatre is essential to ensure smooth transitions and sharp, polished performances.

The attention to detail was also very evident in Simona Mamo’s costume design, which had a distinctive steam-punk styling, with a dash of panto glitz. Costume design and construction was never more clear than in Joe Depasquale’s incredible Caterpillar get-up, which was equally quirky and sumptuous – coupled with lighting and smoke effects, his entrance scene was high on visuals and bound to fascinate the children in the audience.

With musical direction in the hands of Kris Spiteri, the repertoire was punchy and fun, thanks also to Galea’s adapted lyrics to popular songs. Nanny O’Beezwax was Galea’s usual hilarious take on the dame and this year she was endearing as well as entertaining.

Masquerade has once again confirmed that a traditional panto has much to give its new audiences and that a spectacular bit of end-of-year fun is just what we need to soften the blows that 2017 has dealt us.

Stephen Oliver as the Mad Hatter, Katherine Brown as the Queen of Hearts and Chiara Hyzler as March Hare.