One of the wonderful things about pantomime is that it brings all the generations together. So here are a mix of great songs which should keep everyone in your audience happy!
Contents
- Opening Songs
- Celebration Songs
- Dame / Ugly Sister Songs
- Buddy Songs
- Love Songs
- Baddie Songs
- Audience Participation / Songsheet Songs
- Songs for Special Situations
- Cumulative Songs
OPENING SONGS
I Gotta Feelin’ by the Black Eyed Peas. Change ‘night’ to ‘day’ and this is a fantastic opening number.
Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. Such a great chorus for opening a panto!
Comedy Tonight from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Excellent opportunity for a comic character to lead the Company.
Reach by S Club 7. Any song with the lyric “That’s when all your dreams will all come true” has got to be good for panto!
Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO. Very contemporary and great if you have good dancers and can develop the “Everyday I’m Shuffling” bits!
Domino by Jesse J. With a slight softening of the lyrics this is a great opening number.
Let Me Entertain You by Robbie Williams. Great if your opening is led by your principal comic.
Bring Me Sunshine by Sylvia Dee and Arthur Kent. A gentle opening song, and with happy memories of the timeless comedy of Morecambe and Wise.
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CELEBRATION SONGS
Celebration by Kool and the Gang. Wonderful song and does what it says on the tin!
Can’t Stop the Beat from Hairspray. One of the great celebratory end of show numbers.
Flash Bang Wallop from Half a Sixpence. Splendid celebratory song for the Full Company.
Footloose by Kenny Loggins. Guaranteed to have your audience asking for more!
Live While We’re Young by One Direction. Excellent contemporary song for a celebration.
Holiday by Madonna. Very appropriate lyrics.
Happy by Pharrell Williams. Kids love this song and as Pharrell is just about the hippest person around at the moment – why not end your show with one of his hits!?
Dancing on the Ceiling by Lionel Richie. A classic celebratory, party song.
Cinderella by Langhorne Slim. Great to celebrate the happy union of Cinders and her prince.
Everything is Awesome from the Lego Movie. Great fun and very silly!
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DAME/UGLY SISTER SONGS
I’m a Woman by Peggy Lee. Splendidly sassy number for the Dame.
Working Nine to Five by Dolly Parton. Dame’s usually have lots to do…!
Big Spender from Sweet Charity. Made famous by Shirley Bassey. Great for a Dame.
I’m Too Sexyby Right Said Fred.Change to “We’re Too Sexy” and this is brilliant for the Ugly Sisters. Tweak the lyrics to suit any two-syllable town or village, e.g. sandwiching “Luton” or “Sc*nthorpe” between Milan and Japan!
It’s Raining Men by the Weather Girls. Pretty obvious why it works for Ugly Sisters!
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) by Beyonce. Great Dame spoof number.
Sisters Are Doin’ it for Themselves by the Eurythmics. Great for a pair of Ugly Sisters who can sing!
Find Out What They Like from Ain’t Misbehavin’. Very good for the sexually voracious dame!
Man! I Feel Like A Woman by Shania Twain. Brilliant Dame’s song.
I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today from Avenue Q. Very short and very funny!
The Showgirl Must Go On by Bette Middler. Sassy Dame’s number.
Gorgeous from the Apple Tree. Ludicrously over the top. “Look at me I’m absolutely gorgeous…!”
What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. A wonderful warm song.
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BUDDY SONGS
Count on Me by Bruno Mars. Excellent for comedy duo.
You Got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman. Made famous in Toy Story. Really nice song.
Busy Doin’ Nothing from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Great buddies song.
Together Wherever We Go from Gypsy. A great song.
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LOVE SONGS
It’s often good to turn these into duets…
Without You by David Guetta. Sensational power love ballad.
All of Me John Legend. Fabulous contemporary love song.
It Must Be Love by Labi Siffre. An enduringly beautiful love song.
What Do I Do Now?from A Slice of Saturday Night. A gorgeous melody and totally appropriate for two loverswho have only just met anddon’t know what to do about it.
The Best Song Ever by One Direction. Excellent, contemporary up tempo number for a pair of lovers. Good for involving the Chorus.
Grow Old With Me by Tom Odell. Just a fantastic song.
Stuck Like Glue by Sugarland. Up tempo duet – particularly useful if you want to keep things from becoming too smoochy. Very catchy hook and groove. Lyrics need tweaking.
She’s the One by Robbie Williams. Fantastic love song – can easily be turned into a duet.
If I Loved You from Carousel. A Rogers and Hammerstein classic love ballad.
Daydream Believer by Neil Diamond. A great song about being in love – and if you develop it with a gospel treatment, as in “Shrek”, it offers loads of scope to involve the Chorus.
Everything I Do, I Do It For You by Bryan Adams. Classic soft rock power ballad.
Wedding Day by Hot Buttered Rum. Really enjoyable, up tempo Blue Grass song. Excellent for involving lots of the company in a Western themed panto.
Four Horses by Passenger. I love this song and I think it would be great for a pair of star crossed lovers needing to escape their situation.
I Would Walk Five Hundred Miles by the Proclaimers. Great for a male led, up tempo love song.
Tonight (We Live Forever) Union J. Great love song if you want it very up tempo and with the Chorus involved
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BADDIE SONGS
These often work best with the involvement of the Chorus.
Bad to the Bone by George Thorogood. Simply a great Baddie’s song!
Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. Very contemporary and great for a female villain.
Thriller by Michael Jackson. With the Chorus as zombies it works brilliantly!
Monster Mash by Bobbie “Boris” Pickett. Gentler than Thriller, but great fun.
Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones. Excellent baddies song with attitude.
Bad Guys from Bugsy Malone. Particularly good for Baddie plus sidekick, or with characters he or she has co-opted to do evil with.
Trouble by Leiber and Stoller. Made famous by Elvis Presley. Lovely, in your face, bad assed song!
Should I Stay or Should I Go? by the Clash. A really accessible and fun punk number. I use it for Carabosse and her cat in Sleeping Beauty. The audience love it when the characters start pogo-ing!
Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin. If you’ve got a good rock band in the pit and a baddie with vocal chords of steel – this is a great and funny way for him to serenade the Principal Girl!
No More Mr Nice Guy by Alice Cooper. Very appropriate for a baddie with a good rock voice.
I’m Reviewing the Situation from Oliver. Very good for a baddie needing to reflect…
Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Show. There’s nothing villainous in the lyrics, but it’s a great number for the Villain to lead!
I Hate People from Scrooge. Excellent villain’s number.
Bad Moon Rising by Credence Clearwater Revival. Classic baddie’s song.
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AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION / SONGSHEET SONGS
I am the Music Man Good for involving young children on stage
Old MacDonald Another good song for involving young children
Twelve Days of Christmas Not so good for inviting children on to the stage – but very funny when allowed to get out of control with lots of whacky props.
One Smart Fellow He Felt Smart A bit scatological, but very funny when kids get it wrong. Take at a brisk pace to ensure that it does go wrong.
The Witch Doctor Song The nonsense chorus is well known and great for singing with the audience.
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SONGS FOR SPECIAL SITUATIONS
Ballroom Blitz by the Sweet. Fantastic 70’s glam rock number. It has a great drumintro – and is excellent for starting the Ballroom scene in Cinderella. Glam rock also offers wonderful, over the top costume opportunities. The song segues well into…
Prince Charming by Adam Ant, another glam rock classic.
Magic to Do from Pippin. A cracking song for an immortal that needs to do a bit of magic e.g. the Genie in Aladdin.
It’s a Kind of Magic by Queen. Another “magic” song.
Be Back Soon from Oliver! Excellent for major departures – such as the ship leaving in Dick Whittington.
On the Road by Keane. Very rousing song (which goes down great at Keane concerts!) Again, excellent for setting off on a journey – like Aladdin and Abanazar, off to the cave.
Oom, Pah, Pah! from Oliver! Perfect for a tavern setting.
Our House by Madness. Change “middle of the street” to “middle of the wood” and you have a great song for the Dwarfs to sing in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
One More Angel in Heaven from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. Brilliant for the grief stricken dwarfs to sing.
Every Day I Love You Less and Less by the Kaiser Chiefs. Makes a hilarious duet for a Baddie and the Principal Girl – although the lyrics need a little adjustment!
Castle on a Cloud from Les Miserables. Excellent for imprisoned Principal Girl awaiting rescue.
Bonkers by Dizzy Rascal. Makes a great zany comedy number – although it is necessary to soften one or two lyrics.
School’s Out by “one of our dear little girls, Alice Cooper.” Splendidly ludicrous at the end of a School Room scene.
Baggy Trousers by Madness. Kids love this song and it’s another great choice for a School Room scene.
I Like to Move It from Madagascar. Very well known, wonderfully funky and suitable for all sorts of physical activity and exertion, such as the end of the Kung Fu routine in my Aladdin.
Mr Sandman Ludicrous lullaby, maybe for the Nurse to her babes?
Getting to Know You by Rogers and Hammerstein. I use it in Jack and the Beanstalk, the rhythm is perfect for the dancing tree routine!
Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler. Fabulous number to use when derring-do is required!
Everybody (needs somebody) from The Blues Brothers. Brilliant Walkdown number.
Money from Cabaret. Excellent for those who have come in to a sudden wealth – as panto characters often do!
co*cktails for Two Originally from the Big Band era, but an amazing novelty song when done as per the version by Spike Jones with lots of crazy sound effects.
Up Where We Belong by Joe co*cker. Very appropriate for Aladdin’s flying carpet!
Always Look on the Bright Side from Monty Python. Just a great panto song!
Feed Me from Little Shop of Horrors. I use this for the beanstalk growing routine in Jack and the Beanstalk.
Roar by Katy Perry. Useful girl power type number.
Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. Good to mark Cinderella’s arrival at the Ball and the reggae beat makes it a bit different.
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CUMULATIVE SONGS
Cumulative numbers are really useful panto songs – they still go down fantastically well with the audience and are easy to sing and choreograph.
If I Were Not Upon the Stage is probably the best known.
Eric Gilder, who collaborated with my father, John Crocker, wrote several excellent cumulative numbers. Three of the best are:
We Wish We Hadn’t Gone to Sea from the Crocker/Gilder Dick Whittington
Hurrah For the Military from the Crocker/Gilder Puss in Boots
Jolly Good Feed from the Crocker/Gilder Cinderella.
All the above three cumulative numbers can be obtained separately from Samuel French.
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AND LASTLY…
The Song of the Moment…. Brilliant recent examples would be Gangnam Style and Uptown Funk. If a song has gone viral, it’s definitely worth including – the audience will love it!
