Early in Throbbin’ Wood, PrideArts’s new adult pantomime for the 2024 holiday season, Maid Marian (Emma Robie) enters and laments, “My gynecologist recognized me at the supermarket. I knew I should have worn a longer skirt.”
It’s that kind of show. And it’s awesome. I’ve been a sucker for these “pantos,” a theatrical genre imported from the U.K., since first seeing PrideArts’s Jack Off the Beanstock a few years back, and can now recognize some of the stock tropes writer Tom Whalley falls back on each year: One character whom we’re instructed to tell to “fuck off” each time they enter; a flirtation between a so-called “pantomime dame” (this year it was Neill Kelly’s Nanny Fanny) and an audience member; and a hot-and-heavy number from a female lead opening Act II (this year Fairy Glitterous’s [Danielle Bahn] take on Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club”) are just three examples.
The titular Throbbin’ Wood (Bryan Fowler) leads his hunky Merry Men (Jackson Anderson, Jack Gordon and Kyle Johnson) as they rob from the rich and give to the poor during the power vacuum when King Dick (Ryder Dean McDaniel) goes off to fight in the crusades and the evil Sheriff (also McDaniel, a master class in slimy bitchiness) ends up in charge of the kingdom. The audience loved booing and taunting McDaniel the night I saw the show.
Director Taylor Pasche does a great job keeping Throbbin’ Wood moving at a rapid clip, and it never wears the audience out, even with its fairly relentless onslaught of jokes and songs. Choreographer Jen Cupani and Music Director Chad Gearing make the numbers, though parodies of mainstream songs, feel relevant, impressive and entertaining.
Fowler’s Throbbin’ might be the title character, but he’s not necessarily the central one—this is more so about the coming of age of Silly Willy (Freddy Mauricio)—three guesses how he got that nickname, and the first two don’t count—and his quest to join the Merry Men. Though Willy’s the one we repeatedly tell to fuck off, Mauricio’s warm performance leaves the audience cheering once he comes into his own. Willy’s saucy mama Nanny Fanny is along for the ride—until she decides the real ride she wants to get on is Gordon’s character, Triar Fuck.
Pantos have had a long history in England; among those appearing in pantos in recent years, for example, have been Dawn French and Ian McKellen, to name just a few. In her director’s notes, Pasche explains that pantos—despite evolving over the centuries—have always tried “breaking boundaries, questioning norms and celebrating the courage to be exactly who you are.” Throbbin’ Wood expertly taps into that tradition, serving up real laughs with its bawdy reflection of queer culture.
Throbbin’ Wood shows through Dec. 15 at PrideArts Center, 4139 N. Broadway. For tickets and other information, see pridearts.org.