Part 1/2 Detailed report of panto "Dick McWhittington" with John Barrowman in Glasgow January 2014
This report is a joint effort. I wrote down everything I remember but I also had help from a friend with explaining some jokes I didn't get and adding in little bits I missed. Many thanks, Audrey!
“Dick McWhittington” which I finally can say without any stumble was my second year of panto in the SECC, and when comparing it with last year’s “Jack and the Beanstalk”, I started to see some patterns. In the beginning, the bad guy comes from the right side on the stage, the good fairy from the left ;)
So, from the right side came Pete Gallagher as King Rat, “Muhahahaha”. He has a great deep voice. He told us he wanted to swarm Glasgow with his army of rats, which also included bankers, journalists and politicians. From the left side came Ashley Grey, this time she was Aurora, the spirit of the Northern lights. She said that a Glaswegian boy was on his way to help fight the rats! The audience gave a huge cheer at that.
She also told us that Dick was actually on his way to London, to find his luck, and she needed our help to get him back. We were supposed to shout “Turn again Dick McWhittington, Lord Provost of Glasgow!” I had never heard the word “provost” before in my life and apparently King Rat hadn’t either. He turned to the audience and said: “Don’t pretend you know what that means!”
To which Aurora replied: “Put it this way - you have Boris Johnson, we have Dick McWhittington!”
Because I was unsure what to shout, I didn’t actually take part in my first show. But even all the other times - no matter how loud we shouted, she always let us repeat it two more times until she was satisfied ;)
King Rat did actually not believe that Dick would choose Glasgow over London, but then the curtain opened, and we saw a nice street scenery with the dancers and Aurora was singing the One Direction song “Live while we’re young” (although they changed the lyrics a bit to fit the story better)
Hey boy, I'm waitin' on ya, I'm waitin' on ya
Come on and let me sneak you out
There’ll be a celebration, a celebration
because we’re gonna break the town.
Continue reading at my LJ: From the left side one boy came over with some kind of luggage trolley/cart...,
“Dick McWhittington” which I finally can say without any stumble was my second year of panto in the SECC, and when comparing it with last year’s “Jack and the Beanstalk”, I started to see some patterns. In the beginning, the bad guy comes from the right side on the stage, the good fairy from the left ;)
So, from the right side came Pete Gallagher as King Rat, “Muhahahaha”. He has a great deep voice. He told us he wanted to swarm Glasgow with his army of rats, which also included bankers, journalists and politicians. From the left side came Ashley Grey, this time she was Aurora, the spirit of the Northern lights. She said that a Glaswegian boy was on his way to help fight the rats! The audience gave a huge cheer at that.
She also told us that Dick was actually on his way to London, to find his luck, and she needed our help to get him back. We were supposed to shout “Turn again Dick McWhittington, Lord Provost of Glasgow!” I had never heard the word “provost” before in my life and apparently King Rat hadn’t either. He turned to the audience and said: “Don’t pretend you know what that means!”
To which Aurora replied: “Put it this way - you have Boris Johnson, we have Dick McWhittington!”
Because I was unsure what to shout, I didn’t actually take part in my first show. But even all the other times - no matter how loud we shouted, she always let us repeat it two more times until she was satisfied ;)
King Rat did actually not believe that Dick would choose Glasgow over London, but then the curtain opened, and we saw a nice street scenery with the dancers and Aurora was singing the One Direction song “Live while we’re young” (although they changed the lyrics a bit to fit the story better)
Hey boy, I'm waitin' on ya, I'm waitin' on ya
Come on and let me sneak you out
There’ll be a celebration, a celebration
because we’re gonna break the town.
Continue reading at my LJ: From the left side one boy came over with some kind of luggage trolley/cart...,