Theatre
Ali Baba
Manoel Theatre

With a wider choice of Christmas pantos and venues to dip into, the FM Theatre production at the Manoel proved to be a great way to spend an evening out.

Cleverly written and targeted for audience from age three to 90, there was an inclusive atmosphere...- André Delicata

I was admittedly, not in the best of moods when I walked into the stalls, but it took little more than the opening number to put a smile on my face. Script-writer Edward Mercieca’s zany plot and the entire cast’s energy turned my frown upside down in true panto fashion.

This year’s fare was Ali Baba – The Panto was quite a stretchaway from the original plot from Arabian Nights.

Indeed, it blended storylines from Ali Baba and Aladdin, with the most irreverent of Maltese political jokes, a dash of Hogwarts fun, and puns galore. Cleverly written and targeted to audiences age three to 90, there was an inclusive atmosphere in the way the story was handled.

Directed by Larry Ponzig, who also took care of the light design, this panto was high on energy and pace, with active audience involvement even in some of the musical and dance numbers, choreographed by Emma Loftus, while it made great use of the theatre space available – turning the stalls, boxes and orchestra pitinto occasional extensions of the performance area.

The sound balance was occasionally a touch too loud but for the most part, the well-trained voices under coach Cathy Lawlor were clear and the enthusiasm in the cast’s interpretation was evident, making the most of the accompaniment offered by music director Kris Spiteri’s able band the Nice Krispies.

The show opened with a village market scene in Belt L-Erfien – and introduced a whole gamut of characters which made the cast quite a large one – an all the more commendable effort in direction and management because the progression from one scene to another was seamless and slick.

This in part, thanks to a cast where even the chorus featured an equal balance of seasoned actors as well as new faces, who helped the whole show run very smoothly.

Edward Mercieca’s Dame Helwa Tat-Tork Baba was a hilariously attired grande dame of panto in Louie Noire’s outrageously creative designs and hair by Michael and Guy, often made to match not only the tone or setting of the scene but also Ray Farrugia’s vibrant set design itself. Balancing innuendo with political puns in true “Maltese Mama” style, Mr Mercieca made a great dame and his strong dynamic with on-stage sons Ali Baba (Luke Mercieca) and Ala B Baba aka “Ala B B” – geddit? (Toni Attard) reflected his relationship with Luke Mercieca – his real son off-stage, and his friendship with Mr Attard.

Mr Mercieca made a good principal boy – fun and likeable and worked well with delightful principal girl Michaela Fenech who played Princess Anisa. Their singing voices were shown off well in the flying carpet scene with a backdrop of starry fairylights and the children in the audience related almost as well to them as they enjoyed the Hogwarts scene later on in the show.

Although it took quite a stretch of the imagination to put the world of British wizardry into an Arabian context, the scene worked well and Terry Shaw showed off his versatility by playing his third character for the evening – Dumbledore, after having played King Neptune and Anisa’s father The Sultan previously.

His was a rather irritating Sultan, but characterised well enough to convey the irritating effect some parents can have on their children. Which is just what Louis Cassar and Coryse Borg as the Grand Vizier and his social-climbing wife Dabdaba respectively try to do to their son Afi (Rudi Catania), a technophilic geek who is more interested in his facebook friends than in wooing the Princess.

I wasn’t quite convinced by the ħamalla (chav) that Ms Borg’s character was supposed to be – she is a tad too refined to pull it off properly and Mr Cassar’s Vizier was rather hard to understand at times, because his enviably rich baritone, which is quite excellent, had a bit too much reverb to be accommodated comfortably by the sound system.

This trio of bumbling, corrupt semi-baddies, provided more comic relief and paved the way for the true baddies of the show – Fazul Prince of Thieves played by Steve Hili in his most enjoyable and credible character yet and his two minions Qara Bala (Pia Zammit) and Qara Whatever (Chiara Hyzler) who gleefully took on their role with much gusto, managing to merge funny with nasty rather inimitably.

But what of the magical element in the show? Surely a panto couldn’t miss a friendly magical creature? This one got not one but two – Jo Caruana as Fairy Late, taking Arriva jokes to a whole new level and transporting people by bus and the spectacular Luke Farrugia whose Genie of the Lamp, or should I say “camp” made the show terrifically fun to watch with his dry wit, bright pink costume and dead pan face. His was a masterful interpretation matched nicely by the energetic and equally funny Toni Attard, whose loud and brash older bro attitude got everybody cheering in their seats.

These two sure know how to work a crowd – especially when they’re supposed to be fighting evil. The underwater scene which ensues after their ship sinks was populated by brightly coloured fish and was really rather beautiful while the following chase scene was worthy of a Hannah Barbara cartoon.

Ali Baba was truly a fun show for all and what made it great wasn’t simply the slick dance moves or the tightly delivered lines – it was the team effort which made the most of the entire cast and made this a great night out.