Win 4 Tickets to see Theatre Britain’s 2011 Panto: Dick Whittington
Join Theatre Britain for their production of Dick Whittington, the classic rags-to-riches story from Olde England. Starts this Saturday, December 3 at the Cox Building Playhouse in downtown Plano.
We went to last year’s production and it was fantastic! The kids, Brad and I laughed, booed and sang our way through the entire performance. This is definitely one of the not-to-be-missed events of December 2011.
Want to win a family 4-pack to see Dick Whittington?
Please do at least 2 of the following (you can do all of them too):
1. Post a comment here sharing your favorite Holiday Tradition.
2. Post on our Facebook page and share your favorite Holiday Tradition.
3. Send us a message on Twitter to @northtxkids, sharing your favorite Holiday Tradition.
4. Subscribe to our e-newsletter below to get more great updates, articles and contests like this one.
**When you have completed 2 of the above, post here to let us know which 2 you picked–you can add this info to the same comment as item #1 above.**
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What is a Panto anyway? Here’s what Theatre Britain has to say:
” … a beloved British family tradition that deserves to grow here as well.”
Nancy Churnin, The Dallas Morning News
If you thought the holidays in Britain were all snow and Dickens, then you’re in for a big surprise! For the holidays just wouldn’t be the holidays without a panto!
A panto is a traditional fairy tale complete with songs, dances, jokes, exaggerated characters and lots of audience participation.
The British love a good panto. In fact the nation has been mad on it ever since the actor manager John Rich introduced it in 1717!
It’s a wonderful way to entertain children, involving them interactively with the characters on stage, encouraging them to cheer, enlisting their help to support good characters and above all to see that the good chap helps the damsel in distress. And because panto works on two levels, there’s plenty for the adults to enjoy as well.
The centerpiece of any panto is The Dame, a comic, larger than life character, played by a man. Click here for more information.
The Principal Boy is the romantic male lead and is a ‘breeches part’, that is, played by a woman. Click here for more information.
The Villain is always very mean and nasty and must be booed and hissed by the audience at every opportunity!
The Ghost Scene. What can we say about this? Well, there’s always a ghost who pops up when you least expect it and it’s up to the audience to warn the characters on stage.
Audience participation is everything at a panto. Don’t be shy! Join in with the characters as they sing the silly song. Boo and hiss as loud as you can when the villain comes on. Oh, and look out for that ghost!
PANTO IS GREAT FUN !
Mark Ryan, the voice of Bumblebee and Jetfire in Transformers and Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, was in Dallas in 2009 to help promote Puss In Boots. Mark, who is British, did a stint in panto in the UK early in his career, understudying the great Billy Dainty, and is big fan of the genre.
Hear what he had to say about panto …
Our favorite Christmas Holiday tradition is to make lots of cookies together to share with the family and friends. All made from scratch, the family is involved from baking different flavor cookies,decorating with icing and sprinkles, to delivering to our friends.
Our favorite holiday tradition is our Shepherd’s Feast on Christmas Eve.
These sound great! Remember to come back and post to let us know which two action items you picked.
I picked 1 and 2. Our favorite holiday tradition is to visit the holiday Christmas train, more info here http://holidayexpressridingtrain.wordpress.com/
It is about 15 minutes from our house and it is completely free! I blogged about it here,
http://leeandkerry.blogspot.com/2010/12/holiday-express-riding-train.html
Great info Kerry, thanks for sharing. Will go check out our blog.
Thanks Kerry!
My favorite tradition is making cookies and cocoa and opening our smallest present on Christmas Eve!
I picked the 1 and 2 options in the giveaway.
My favorite tradition is making cookies and cocoa and opening our smallest present on Christmas Eve!
My favorite tradition is to build the nativity scene and to add the baby Jesus at midnight on Dec. 24th. Also, to help the Three Kings arrive at the manger on Jan. 6. This are traditions I learned as a child in Latin America.
To participate in the Dick Whittington tickets raffle, I did steps #1 and #4. Thanks! Gabriela
Love it! Thanks Gabriela!
We go to mass and come home and read “The Quiltmaker’s Gift”.
So beautiful Brenda, love it!
OUr fave family tradition is driving around neighborhoods and looking at Christmas lights, reading Night Before Christmas, and watching the Nutcracker ballet
Im also an email subscriber
Thanks Jen for following NTK and sharing your tradition!
1 and 2 decorating cookies with markers (edible) and sprinkles, making gingerbread cookies, and houses
Our favorite holiday tradition has always been getting to open our new pajamas on christmas eve and then cuddling up on the couch to watch ‘Christmas Vacation.’ Now that my brothers and I are grown, we we’ve passed the tradition on to my 5 year old daughter. And the whole family (even us grown ups) still wear pajamas and watch it together, only now with a bottle of wine!
Oh, and I picked #1 and #2
Awesome, thanks Candie!
[...] Poor old Mother Goose! She is about to be turned out of her house because she can’t pay the mortgage. All looks bleak until along comes Lucy the Goosy who lays golden eggs and saves the day. Mother Goose is now rich and she shares her good fortune with the whole town. But behind the scenes a good Fairy and a dastardly Demon are fighting over her fate. Will Mother Goose be content with what she has or can the Demon tempt her into betraying her friends and her principles? A classic tale of Good versus Evil, panto-style! [...]