SHERMAN — If you have never seen a panto, your opportunity is here.

A panto is a silly production having little to do with pantomime and a lot to do with goofy fun that requires enthusiastic and responsive audience participation. For the holiday season, The Sherman Players have a panto of Jack and the Beanstalk on stage. Under the direction of Steven Stott, this production is ridiculous good fun.

The well-known and frightening fairy tale in which a fierce giant terrorizes a small town is loosely followed. Jack (played by Sophia Dolohery) lives with his mother, Dame Trott (Michael Wright), and his very animated brother, Silly Billy (Daniel Tarantino).

The family is impoverished and needs to sell the family cow, Daisy, to pay the rent. Jack makes a deal with con artist and resident bad guy, Fleshcreep (Robin Frome), who gives him some gold, which morphs into beans, in exchange for the beloved heifer.

These are not just any beans, however. They grow into a gigantic stalk that provides a pathway to the giant’s lair.

The telling of this tale is rife with music and scenarios lifted from other works, and it gets really busy with a princess, a sword in a random rock, a king (Chris Marker) who is in love with gender bending Dame Trott, the Vegetable Fairy (Stephanie Rosenberg), and a whole lot of musical numbers squeezed in.

The really fun part is that the audience is encouraged to participate, and they did so enthusiastically, as they called out to cast members with warnings and cheers for at least one performance.

The cast is large. There were many who really stood out, among them Gary Blu’s Clarence Clanger, who played a sweet sax and maintained an exuberant, and sometimes jittery, demeanor throughout; Jesse Learson, who played an absolutely captivating Corporal Tidy; Daniel Tarantino, who is a bundle of energy with which he created a dynamite character; and Lizzy Booth, as Princess Melanie, and Sophia Dolohery, as Jack, who both exhibited lovely singing voices that met the demands of their many numbers.

The entire cast offers up talent and endurance for this multifocal piece and the hijinks it requires. They include Haley Fuller, Tom Hadenberg, Tyler Holm, William Kenyon, Kimberly Marcus, Carolyn McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Lynn Nissenbaum, Daisy Stott, Judy Sullivan, and Nicole Veach.

This is a different kind of experience and one with which to really let loose. Don’t be shy; shake your sillies out at a night of panto in Sherman!

Performances continue Friday and Saturday evenings at 8, and Sundays, December 15 and 22, at 2 pm, until December 28.

Tickets are $24 adults and senior citizens, $12 for students; group discounts are available. Ticket can be reserved online at shermanplayers.org or at the box office of the theater, 5 Route 39 North in Sherman.

For additional information, call 860-354-3622.