Theater Review: Pantochino’s Christmas Carol: A New Musical Panto

Pantochino is presenting a holiday show that puts the “Panto” into Pantochino.

Pantochino’s Christmas Carol: A New Musical Panto runs at the Milford Arts Council (The Mac) through Dec. 18.

The new, family friendly musical panto features a book and lyrics written by Bert Bernardi with fun music composed by Justin Rugg. Bernardi directed the show and Rugg, the resident musical director, did his thing in addition to portraying Ebenezer Scrooge in the production. Bernardi and costume designer Jimmy Johansmeyer were the co-producers. This is a very fun take on the Christmas classic that many theaters present in December.

Based on the Charles Dickens timeless story, Ebenezer Scrooge is given a transformative lesson about charity, forgiveness and love on Christmas Eve. This new adaptation brims with comedy, sight gags, songs and over-the-top holiday spirit.

Bernardi describes this production as a “fun-filled experience brimming with Christmas cheer,” His script is written in the tradition of the British Panto, so “this is a wild, topsy-turvy ride through the Dickens story with a laugh a minute.”

“Panto is what we do best,” said co-producer Jimmy Johansmeyer.

Johansmeyer, because he didn’t already have enough to do, covers the role of the narrator, Bob Scratchit (and oh yes, there are jokes related to this surname in the script.) This talented performer knows how to work the audience, and frequently breaks the fourth wall.

There are many original musical numbers throughout the two acts, including production numbers “You Can Change” and “Nobody Likes You” addressed to Scrooge, “Raise Your Glass,” and a clever riff on the song “Old Fashioned Wedding” from “Annie Get Your Gun” about a plain old Christmas versus a more commercialized holiday.

I apologize to the composer and lyricist if I guessed incorrectly at the titles they gave the songs.

Listen for some topical humor about furniture being sold on Facebook Marketplace, and delightfully alliterative character names.

Rugg is a delight as the miser Scrooge. This gifted musician shares his talent by teaching young performers and is busy composing new projects with his partner Bernardi.

The rest of the cast cover a myriad of roles as “The Merry Singers.” The ensemble includes some adult Pantochino regulars and a few young performers that keep up really well. Maria Berte (“Glitz”,) Mary Mannix, and Shelley Marsh Poggio return to this stage to (fight over) playing the female characters.

WCSU graduate Sam Everett and Don Poggio scramble to cover all of the male roles.

The youngest members of the group include sixth grade student Ryder Blanchard, seventh grade student Nora Simonelli (what a belt!) and third grade student Davis Burke in the role of Tiny Tim.

The highlight of the production just might be the special guest appearance by the venerable Victoria Sautee

Johansmeyer’s costumes for the singers/players can only be described as perfection, but those especially designed for the special guest rise to new heights in their silliness. Sautee, of course, carries off all of the ensembles with her usual aplomb. Lights by Jeff Carr and sound by Richard Ives worked well for the space. Don Poggio did the carpentry and Martha Becker is the costume assistant.

The second act contains an ensemble number about Christmas ball ornaments with sly references that will probably go over the heads of the very young. There is one ten-minute intermission.

Coming in February of next year, the Pantochino Teen Theatre will present “We Will Rock You,” and in April, a new musical farce about music, Miami, mobsters and murder entitled “And Away We Go!” will premiere.

Pantochino Productions, a professional not-for-profit theater company, performs through 18 at the MAC, Milford Arts Council on Railroad Avenue in Downtown Milford.

Nancy Sasso Janis, writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local venues, posts well over 100 reviews each year. In 2016, her membership in the Connecticut Critics Circle began and her contributions of theatrical reviews, previews, and audition notices are posted not only in the Naugatuck Patch but also on the Patch sites closest to the venue. She recently became a contributor to the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper. Her weekly column and theatre reviews appear in the Thursday Weekend section of the paper.

Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theatre Previews and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the NEW CCC Facebook page.