Rapunzel the Pantomime

Bradford & Webster

Rapunzel, a beautiful young woman with long golden hair, is locked up in a tower with no stairs and no door by her grandmother (really?) for her own safety (REALLY!?). Hold on, that's no grandmother, that's the evil witch Gothel. She's collecting Rapunzel's tears to keep herself young. And she is helped (and hindered) by her idiot henchfolk, Curly and Bob.

Back in the town, Trixie Bouffant (a local hairdresser) is still mourning the disappearance of her baby daughter 16 years ago. She takes her mind off it by flirting mercilessly with the Captain of the Guard.

And there's Dame Trixie's put-upon son, Frankie, everyone's friend and valet to the playboy Prince Frederick. Frankie spends much of his time holding back the paparazzi and the autograph hunters (and the Prince's hair after he's overindulged).

Over at the palace, Fairy Flora has just finished her training and has come to serve the King and Queen, who are exasperated by their son's partying. So they send him out into the world to prove himself worthy.

And he only goes and rescues Rapunzel from the tower! To no-one's surprise, Gothel is not best pleased. She storms the palace to take Rapunzel back but, in the final showdown, love triumphs. Who'd have thought it?

All this plus some silly salon slapstick with Dame Trixie, and some fantastic full-on idiocy from Curly and Bob, including the miraculous rope ladder scene.