A pantomime of disorganised crime
A sparkling comic send-up of the entire mob-movie genre, but with all the best-loved features of old-fashioned panto skilfully blended in.
Thrill as inter-family rivalries spill over from the mean streets of the Bronx, to the leafy avenues of – your very own locality. Gasp as embryonic godfather, Michael Ricotta and his villainous sidekicks, attempt to wrest control of the UK Mozarella supply from bungling incumbent crime lord and pizza king, Don Rigatoni.
Hoot with derision as Daphne Bungalow, pantomime dame par excellence – and sometime chairperson of your local residents’ association – becomes haplessly embroiled in the resultant battle of wills, high explosive, and custard pies!
And don’t forget to look out for the madcap intervention of a couple of feisty Fairy Godmothers, who have inadvertently blundered into completely the wrong panto. Will the pantomime horse’s head, end up in the Don’s Divan? You bet it will! Do the baddies get their comeuppance, one by one, in a brilliantly sequenced operatic denouement, just like in the movies? Count on it.
Loaded with crackpot jokes, including some great Italian gags, plus almost endless opportunities for flashes, bangs and wallops, this is a refreshingly different seasonal offering, uniting festive magic, great comedy, and a fine parody of a whole genre of classic movies. Sure to fire the imagination of both your cast and your audience.
Cast: 8M 5F, 2 M/F. Extras 4 – 6 M or F.
Provision is made in the script for the inclusion of eight musical numbers. More musical numbers could easily be incorporated.
Characters
Mrs Daphne Bungalow, of (insert local town) Residents’ Association
Idle Jack, her slovenly son
Don Michael Ricotta, il Capo di tutti Capos
Bella Donna Gorgonzola, his poisonous sidekick
Sonny Marscapone, an out and out psychopath. Don Ricotta’s enforcer
Don Rigatoni, another Capo – not so bad really
Contessa Maria Asti-Spumante, Don Rigatoni’s beautiful niece
Jimmy Cannellini,
Vincent Borlotti, Don Rigatoni’s foot soldiers… a coupla has-beens
Dolcelatte, Don Rigatoni’s thoroughbred racehorse
Enzo Tortellini, proprietor of ‘Il Salmonella’ Ristorante
Police Constable Darren Moggs, of the (insert local) Constabulary
Fairy Suds and Fairy Cake, fully-featured, traditional Fairy Godmothers
Claude, a masseur
A prompt
Clerks, ice cream vendor, stage crew, and so on.