Pantomime
Rapunzel
Platform, The Bridge, Glasgow
Mary Brennan
four stars
IT IS Platform’s 10th anniversary year and the venue is letting its hair down, so to speak, with Rapunzel, a big-hearted, small-scale treat of a show that knocks spots off many pantos with more dosh but less dash.
Writer Lewis Hetherington and director Matt Addicott have given the original fairy-tale, and more recent cartoon, an inspired bodyswerve. Their topical Rapunzel finds herself in a modern world where beauty only needs to be skin deep. Gloria (Angela Darcy in full throttle and a fearsome bouffant hair-style) is the owner of a de luxe hair-dressers that grooms the local animals, human or otherwise. Rapunzel is her mousy, unassuming daughter – albeit harbouring a fabulous, show-stopping voice – who resists attempts to glam her up until the clutzy Justin (Stephen Bangs) arrives in search of a job. One look is all it takes: love – like Gloria’s hair – is in the air and Rapunzel is asking for a make-over.
Soon she’s like a dress-up dolly designed by Gloria, who still resents coming second in the Woodland Beauty Pageant and determined that the cosmetically-enhanced Rapunzel will win, and Gloria will finally triumph. Rapunzel and Justin have, however, sung too many hi-energy duets – Beyonce’s Crazy in Love is some stoatir – for their harmonious future to be stymied by a mother’s warped ambitions and floor-length hair extensions. If the patter is sparky with clever quips, and the narrative takes some nicely dramatic twists, the knock-out factor here is the singing, with three sets of talented vocal chords rockin’ out well-chosen pop songs. The moral for our selfie-centred times? Life’s not all about appearances. That said, this is one resourcefully good-looking production.
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