REVIEW
Little Red Riding Hood
Dec. 19 to 24, Dec. 26 to 31
Capitol Theatre
Fort Edmonton Park
Tickets: $30 to $40, special Wednesday price $20 to $25. Visit www.fortedmontonpark.ca
If you happen to walk through Fort Edmonton Park some time this month, those cheers, boos and hisses you hear are coming from Capitol Theatre.
It’s a performance of the annual British-style pantomime and kids of all ages are packing the theatre to see Little Red Riding Hood, running until Dec. 31.
But this is no 19th-century Grimms fable. Scriptwriter and artistic director Dana Anderson has flipped a time warp switch and placed Little Red in the modern 21st-century metropolis of Edmonton.
As the creative team’s leader, Anderson’s Little Red Riding Hood has a polished veneer that remains fresh, irreverent and funny as it joyfully skewers all our treasured conventions.
Musical director Aaron Macri is back on stage as D.J. Hoodie with some witty reworkings of pop classics and a quirky soundscape supplying some of the show’s highlights.
Although the setting is contemporary, characters follow the traditional format: a sweet, plucky heroine, a self-serving villain and a cross-dressing Dame who gleefully enjoys delivering some of the punchiest lines.
In this version, Little Red wants to become a big-time singing superstar touring the home-show circuit. She is booked for a break-out gig, but cancels to deliver Grandma groceries and medicine.
Following directions from her cellphone’s Siri-like voice, Little Red tries to short-cut it to Grandma’s house in Millwoods. Instead she loses her way. In trying to get back on track, she encounters several weird characters including a goofy wolf with “an expired IQ.”
Anderson’s script is packed with local references and he isn’t afraid to poke jabs at potholes, Fake News, the Oilers, fame, equal pay parity, hypochondria, and yes, even the Illuminati, a secret cabal conspiring to rule the world. No topic is exempt.
As a comedy Little Red Riding Hood’s strength is the absurdity embedded in each character’s personality and how they interact with their environment.
For example, the Wolf develops sciatica while dancing the salsa and later Grandma, speaking in a soft Scottish burr, relays a terrifying list of disorders including phyllo pastry flatulence – a great joke kids loved.
With non-stop audience involvement, the fast-on-its-feet cast volleys salvos and jokes suited to every member of the family.
St. Albert actress Madelaine Knight is a lovely breath of fresh air combining innocence, humour and spunk on her road to self-discovery.
Davina Stewart as Wolf hilariously goes from being everyone’s best friend to sizing them up for a meal while handling the heckling with fun and witty replies.
Jeff Halaby is one of the region’s most versatile character actors, and Anderson’s script showcases his abilities to the max.
In several split-second quick changes he switches from Little Red’s randy Mama to a nebbish store clerk to a platinum-haired, bongo-beating musician to a ditzy Grandma. It’s a toss-up whether Wolf or Halaby steal the show.
And the fourth cast member, Melissa MacPherson, whips in and out of costume as the narrator, a tough wildlife officer, the vampy Gretel and the chic Ali-uminati, a parody on secret societies.
Whether the cast stays on script or goes off, the rhythm and mayhem is a lot of fun. If you’ve never attended a panto, check this one out as a holiday tradition.
