By: Lynn Barker
In Pasadena, California, home of the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade, Kidzworld attended the first Pasadena Playhouse performance of the kooky, fun stage musical “A Snow White Christmas” starring Ariana Grande of Nick TV’s popular show “Victorious” (she played Cat Valentine) as Snow White. Playing the Wicked Queen is Charlene Tilton who was very popular as teen Lucy Ewing on the original, 1980’s TV show “Dallas”. Neil Patrick Harris (The Smurfs movie and TV’s “How I Met Your Mother”) plays a very cool magic mirror.
Snow White and her prince
“A Show White Christmas” is a “Panto”. If you are in the U.K., you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about. If not, Pantos (short for Pantomime) are classic tales (“Snow White”, “Cinderella”, “Robin Hood”, etc.) set to modern music and tweaked to fit our times. They’ve existed for ages in Britain and are enjoying an American run lately.
The coolest thing about Pantos is that they really encourage audience participation. Don’t like that evil witch? Boo her! Want to warn Snow not to bite into that poisoned apple? Go right ahead! Want to sing along to familiar songs, warble away!
Ariana, Neil and Charlene
Dance moves included the popular gangnam style and Ariana, who will release her first CD early next year, sang “VooDoo Love”, a song from that album. Here is the crazy/fun mix of pop songs used in the show:
“Born This Way”, “VooDoo Love”, “Power of Love”, “Toxic” (yes, the Britney version), “Lazy Song”, “Firework” (yep, the Katy Perry one), “Thriller” (Michael Jackson), “YMCA”, “You Make My Dreams”, “Bad Things”, “Nothing’s Gonna Chance My Love for You”, “Song Sheet” and “Celebration”. Whew!
Ariana Grande plays Snow
The story basically follows the fairy tale except the Huntsman is the Queen’s servant, a court jester named “Muddles” tells the story and is in love with Snow and the production includes a very cute miniature white horse named Blitzen just ‘cuz he’s cute and there are usually cute animals in British Pantos.
It was opening night so there were a few glitches, missed cues etc. but we had a blast singing along and yelling out our boos and cheers. We were happy to learn that donations have enabled the theater to invite over 2,000 kids and teens from underprivileged schools to see the show during its run through December 30th. Some of those kids have never, ever seen a stage show.
Curt Hansen as the prince
If you are in Southern California over the holidays, come to Pasadena to see the show! It is literally fun for the whole family. The Lythgoe Family producers are working to bring “A Snow White Christmas” and other Pantos to more cities world-wide so get ready to participate and cheer Show and her handsome Prince in your area.
Ariana Grande "A Snow White Christmas" rehearsal featuring Neil Patrick Harris
