Word: panto
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...those living outside Britain, the pantomime (or panto for short) can seem like a bizarre, and perhaps inappropriate, Christmas tradition. In the shows, theater companies take popular children's stories such as Aladdin, Cinderella and Snow White and spice them up with audience participation, cross-dressing, double entendres, sexual innuendo and deliberately hammy acting. Big stars have become a staple of the most lucrative shows in recent years - Henry Winkler, a.k.a. the Fonz, is currently starring as Captain Hook in a pantomime of Peter Pan in Liverpool, following in the footsteps of actors like Steve Guttenberg and Mickey Rooney. When...
...Juliette Binoche, Marisa Tomei and Christina Applegate, had actually been nervous about their turns, worried that directors and executives might judge their thespian skills on these fun moments. Molina, Joffe and Rush come from British and Australian stock, and seemed to recognize the moments for what they are - "panto," the tradition of Christmas pantomime. James Woods is gloriously shameless, or perhaps recognizes the American equivalent, which is the way that Johnny Carson would portray Carnak the Magnificent. It's not about the script, just the fun of hamming it up for the audience...
...doesn't seem to appreciate this particular art form is "Politically Incorrect" host Bill Maher. "Where are the stars?" he demands, apparently not seeing a high enough quotient. I enquire his views about the light panto on stage. "It's terrible," he opines. "I mean, I could get James Woods to wear a dress!" Since, on the face of it, this runs contrary to his long-established reputation, I leave the remark dangling. James Woods held a different perspective. "How did they get you to do it?" I asked him. "Easy," he explains. "They phoned up and asked...
...anyway, as I was saying... We leave this place, bags in tow, Heidegger in our hip-pockets, and who sweeps in to fill our vacuum but all these old people? This year, they did so to an old-style British "Panto," a comical take on the fairy tale "Cinderella"; a traditional "St. George and the Dragon" mummers play; lots of familiar carols and rounds, including the ceremonial "Boar's Head Carol" from Oxford; Susan Cooper's classic solstice poem "The Shortest Day" and a spectacular rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" you'll never forget. And, as always, Revels...
Most of the phobias known to behavioral scientists are relatively rare afflictions. There are, for example, only a few victims of erythrophobia (the fear of blushing) and fewer yet of melissophobia (fear of bees) or panto-phobia (fear of everything). But Princeton University Philosopher Walter Kaufmann says that there is one age-old but hitherto unrecognized fear that is nearly universal. It is "decidophobia" -the morbid dread of making fateful decisions...