Passions: enduring appeal of panto and the stars who make theatre simply magical
My birthday treat as a kid was a trip to the panto. There was always something magical about stepping through the big wooden and glass doors into the Kings Theatre in Edinburgh. The colour and spectacle lit up the darkest of January nights.
My memories are always of sitting in the stalls looking up and hoping one year we’d get seats in one of the boxes. Almost 50 years on, I’ve still never sat in one!
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Hide AdPanto was the first time I experienced the buzz that is generated as an audience fills each row, seat by seat, and saw how the atmosphere built up as the clock ticked towards curtain up, and, backstage, everyone moved seamlessly into place. I still savour those moments at each and every live gig or theatre show, and the thrill of showtime hasn’t diminished at all across the decades.
I was fortunate to grow up in the era when Stanley Baxter was the undisputed king of panto. The budget for his outfits would dwarf the production costs of some shows now, but the spectacle they helped to create was priceless.
Fragments of memories remain as he conducted a masterclass in Parliamo Glasgow, and then brought down the big board for the traditional sing-a-long before leading the entire chorus into a lavish showstopper of a number.
If Baxter defined one panto era, Gerard Kelly created another, and there have been many masters of their craft from Jimmy Logan on to Allan Stewart, Grant Stott and the much missed, much loved Andy Gray.
The opening matinee of Peter Pan at the Festival Theatre saw a packed house and kids - young and old - captivated by the spectacle, but at the other end of the scale you’ll find Ya Wee Beauty & The Beastie, Scotland’s smallest panto, packing them in at the other Kings Theatre in Kirkcaldy, with Billy Mack - the doyen of dames in Fife - leading a cast of just five in a show small in size but big in entertainment. It’s worth a trip across the Forth.
For me, the magic of a panto hasn’t diminished one bit over five decades. I doubt it ever will.And one day, before I’m too old to climb the stairs, I’ll take my seat in one of those boxes…
Allan Crow is the Editor of the Fife Free Press, sister title of The Scotsman