‘It’s been the greatest adventure of my life’: Panto legend Ross Petty says farewell

“I’m in a state of chaos, anxiety — all of the above, really.”

The rich baritone at the other end of the line is Ross Petty, 76, who’s relishing his final few days as villain-in-chief at Ross Petty Productions.

I interview him Friday morning. By Saturday night, Petty’s days of pantomime will be behind him.

It’s a bittersweet ending, said Petty. There will likely be tears.

But it’s time to go.

“Yes, it’s the final weekend,” he said. “It’s the weekend I have not been looking forward to all year. Time passes, and here we are.”

Saturday signifies two conclusions. It’s closing night for “Peter’s Final Flight,” the colourful, irreverent Christmas panto at the Elgin Theatre on Yonge Street. Closing nights tend to be tinged with sadness regardless of context, but the last bow of “Peter’s Final Flight” doesn’t just signal the end of the run. At least for now, it represents the end of an era in Toronto theatre, a pause to the Christmas panto tradition until another theatre company can assume the responsibility of producing the mammoth show.

“Peter’s Final Flight” has been the perfect final story to tell on the Elgin stage, said Petty. While two virtual shows in 2020 and 2021 kept the Ross Petty panto in the public consciousness in the absence of live theatre, there’s nothing like being back onstage.

“The pent-up demand has certainly been there,” said Petty. “And it’s just been extraordinary the results. The audience reaction has been amazing.”

Audience reaction is perhaps the most important measure of a quality panto — the loudness of the boos, the synchronicity of the crowd shouting “oh no you don’t,” the fervour of the applause for the story’s hero. It’s unlike nearly any other theatrical experience.

“It’s amazing. It’s the only entertainment I’ve ever been part of, during my entire life as an actor right out of university in Winnipeg, that I’ve seen that kind of response from an audience,” said Petty.

He technically retired from appearing onstage as the bad guy in 2015, pivoting to focus solely on the producing demands of the annual show — finding sponsors, hiring a team, organizing marketing. For his “final” role in 2015, he was Hook, too.

There was no doubt he’d reprise the character this time around.

“Hook’s my favourite bad guy!” said Petty. “He’s just the craziest guy in the world, he thinks he’s God’s gift on so many fronts, and he wants to control the world. Who wouldn’t want to play that character?”

It’s difficult to overstate the impact the Ross Petty panto has had on Toronto’s theatrical landscape. Many Toronto-born actors grew up attending the show; others have appeared in its ensemble. Quite a few grew up watching and snagged the gig when they became working actors. According to Petty, there are a few ensemble members in “Peter’s Final Flight” to whom that situation applies, and “they’re having a blast” making their childhood dreams of working in showbiz come true.

What happens next for the show is unclear. There have been conversations about another theatre picking up the project — perhaps another for-profit company like Mirvish — but as of now there are no plans in place to keep the production going in Petty’s absence.

“I very much hope someone will pick up the baton and carry it forward … I hope someone will see the beauty of the shows, how many thousands of children have embarked on the process of loving live theatre with our shows, and fill the gap after we’ve gone,” he said.

“It’s been the greatest time of my life,” added Petty, who, with his wife Karen Kain, former artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada, hopes to travel more in retirement. “My wish for our audience is that their hearts never grow up — it’s a bit of a combination of what Peter Pan is all bout. The boy who never grew up. I hope our audience’s hearts never grow up.”

Before we hang up, Petty muses about was to happen Saturday. He shed a tear when I saw the show on opening night, and he said he’s been “overwhelmed by emotion” during the entire run.

“I’ve said to my wife I don’t know whether there’ll be any tears left at the end,” he said.

Saturday arrives, and I find myself sitting next to another single woman, Karishma, near the back of the orchestra section — we’re two outliers in an auditorium full of children and their parents. I ask what brings her to the panto, and it turns out she’s been attending every year since she first arrived to Canada nearly fifteen years ago. It’s one of her favourite theatrical experiences in the city after first discovering the art of panto in Scotland in the 2000s, unlike much of the theatre she grew up watching in India. She, too, is heartbroken to see the Petty panto go.

Every time Petty comes onstage, the traditional boos give way to roaring applause. In the final coda of the sprawling show, Petty, playing himself, comes onstage to speak with Dan Chameroy’s Plumbum, and he tells us just how much fun he’s had making these shows for 25 years.

The standing ovation is instant, enthusiastic and long.

Following the curtain call, Petty steps forward — “to read from Prince Harry’s new book,” he jokes, ready as always for a punchy quip.

“It’s time for Karen and I to run off into the sunset,” he says, wiping a tear from his eye and smiling at us.

“I’ve performed everywhere from London’s West End to Broadway to Paris. But this is indeed the greatest adventure of my life.”

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