Every holiday season, Celeb Secrets makes a trip to Pasadena, CA for the annual Lythgoe Family Panto. Celebrating their tenth year this December, Celeb Secrets dropped in on rehearsals last week for this year’s production, A Snow White Christmas, to get the scoop on the family-friendly event.
Not exactly sure what a Panto is? No worries — we’ve got ‘ya covered! A Panto is interactive holiday fun for all ages. Based on the Grimm fairytales and others, each story has been modernized with topical scripts for parents and well-known pop songs for kids.
An updated version of the classic fairy tale,A Snow White Christmas follows Princess Snow White, who joins forces with the Seven Dwarfs to defeat her wicked aunt, the Queen. In the style of British Panto, audiences are encouraged to interact, booing the baddies and cheering for the hero. The event features family-friendly magic, with a comedic twist, dancing (with “So You Think You Can Dance” alumni), contemporary music and more.
The production stars Olivia Sanabia (Disney Channel’s Coop & Cami Ask the World, Amazon’s original series Just Add Magic) as Snow White, Grammy Award winning recording artist and actress Michelle Williams as The Wicked Queen, Jared Gertner (Broadway’s The Book of Mormon) as Muddles, Garrett Clayton (Teen Beach Movie, Teen Beach 2, Hairspray Live!) as The Huntsman, Michael Campion (Netflix’s Fuller House) as Prince Harry, and Tony Award Winner Neil Patrick Harris as The On Screen Magic Mirror.
After watching a run-through scene from the Panto, Celeb Secrets chatted with the cast members to learn all about the production. You can watch the video below to see what you can expect from A Snow White Christmas, how much fun the cast was behind-the-scenes, and their ultimate Christmas wishes this year.
A Snow White Christmas kicked off last Friday, December 13 and will run until Sunday, December 22. Tickets start at $28 and they can be purchased here or by calling the Pasadena Civic Auditorium’s box office at 626-449-7360.
