Rolling the Ball

Well, big wheels roll through fields where sunlight streams.

Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

-  Bruce Springsteen, "Land of Hope and Dreams"

I agreed to this.

I don't remember who suggested it. 

I blame them. 

I can do that, right?

Today I embark on a journey. With pen to paper I intend to put together a pantomime. Not a generic cliche-fest, although there is room for cliche. Not a jumbled mess of pop culture references, although they will not be denied. But something hilarious, heartfelt and touching. Where no character is wasted. Where the songs are relevant to the action. Where everyone is proud of it for years to come.

The kind of panto I've always wanted to see.

This blog is window into my creative process and an effort to keep myself on track. Hopefully it will keep me on target. Hopefully it will provide you a little entertainment and insight. It is this blog that will assemble the scattered fragments of jokes, lines and threads into a glorious whole.

But I cannot do this alone.

Don't get me wrong, I plan on doing the heavy lifting. But there are things beyond my expertise that crowd sourcing will solve. I invite you not merely to observe, but to partake. That is what panto is about after all.

So get comfy. We've got about 8 months. I want to be done in half that. I want to be able to invite everyone reading this to read-throughs around a barbecue in the summer. I want that panto feeling to be part of us all year round.

Now I can't promise with absolute certainty that this panto will be performed. I only have so much power in these matters. But if it as good as I think we can make it? I don't think there will be any other option.

From you I have ask for two things:

1. I will, on occasion, ask for solutions for elements I am stuck on. The first of which is at the end of this post...
2. Keep. Me. Going. Pester me. Comment on this blog, on facebook, in person, whatever works! I intend to post here at least once a week, but preferably far more often. It is your job to make sure I do. I know you are very good at irritating me, so this should come naturally.

So, I said I needed a solution from you. Riddle me this...

Every panto needs an energetic opening number. Something the audience can really get into. Something not too obscure and that focuses its appeal on the younger watchers. The criteria are simple:

1. To be sung primarily by the theatre's youth, possibly lead by a main cast member.
2. To lend itself well to a big group dance routine.
3. To really kick things off with a bang.

I'll offer some extra thoughts (cribbed from the margins of my notebook) that might net you bonus points, but don't feel constrained by them:

• Perhaps a song which is segmented enough to allow for different dance portions for different types of character on stage (if it were to take place at a market, the shop owners do there thing here, the shoppers dance here, etc). Always been partial to the variety that adds.
• Don't forget this post as the year goes on. New songs may arrive that spark your imagination.

And I've just realised I haven't given you a setting! Well, best conceive of it as this panto's equivalent of Old London Town.

And what exactly is 'this panto'?

That, my friends, is a story for another time...