Well, we know now that the one qualification that MAGA supporters must possess is complete ignorance of the real world and total denial of anything and everything that they have not personally experienced. That includes their latest paranoia about drag queens performing family entertainment for the Holiday Season. They are a little late to the game, as in the UK, this has been going on since the 18th Century ……technically 1732…. which is even before The Orange Man was born. (Actually, for total accuracy, this form of performance has its roots in ‘Commedia dell’Arte’, a 16th-century Italian entertainment)
This art form, known as Pantomime (panto for short) is most popular in the UK and is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining broad and topical humour and cross-dressing actors with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale. Pantomime is a participatory form of theatre in which the audience is encouraged and expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and to shout out phrases to the performers.
Pantos have a number of conventions, some of which have changed or weakened a little over the years, and by no means all of which are obligatory. E.G. the leading male juvenile character (the principal boy) is traditionally played by a young woman in male garments (such as breeches). Her romantic partner is usually the principal girl, a female ingénue : an older woman (the pantomime dame – often the hero’s mother) is usually played by a man in drag. The script is littered with risqué double entendre, often wringing innuendo out of perfectly innocent phrases. This is not intended to be understood by children in the audience and is for the entertainment of the adults.
A major element is audience participation, including calls of “He’s behind you!” (or “Look behind you!”), and “Oh, yes it is!” and “Oh, no it isn’t!” The audience is always encouraged to hiss or jeer at the villain and “awwwww” the poor victims, such as the rejected dame, who is usually enamoured with one of the male characters.
Our British Editor (of a certain age!) writes that in his childhood pantos were de riguer and he was taken to at least two each Christmas. They were considered the highlight of the holiday season (and NO, they didn’t turn him gay!) He also remembers that the cast always included a few soap-opera actors……the gay community has always been an avenue for new actors/singers to be discovered, or for old ones needing work on their way out.
The sad part of MAGA’s ignorant demands for all performances for children that include anyone in drag should be stopped has now spread to a small group in the UK who (according to our research) are protesting about pantos for the first time in several hundred years. The irony about MAGA’S involvement is that The Orange Man would make a perfect panto Dame
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