London ( CNN ) -- Something strange is going on in Britain . Some of the biggest TV stars of the 20th century are donning luscious wigs and scaring the wits out of children . And Queen Elizabeth is n't in a position to stop them either -- she 's guilty of joining in herself . Overweight men are squeezing themselves into dresses , young women are prancing about on stage incessantly slapping their own thighs , and everywhere families are wildly screaming `` He 's behind you ! '' It does n't make any sense . But then , that 's pantomime -- or `` panto '' as the British fondly refer to it -- a musical comedy unleashed across theaters every Christmas season and like nothing you 've ever seen before . Imagine your favorite childhood fairy tale -- `` Peter Pan , '' `` Cinderella , '' or `` Robin Hood . '' Now subvert it with cross-dressing , topical references , audience participation , big song and dance routines , and you 've pretty much got the idea . Small stage , big names . But wait . What 's this ? Recently panto has been getting a celebrity makeover . Once the realm of local actors , now international stars are getting involved . Henry Winkler , better known as `` The Fonz , '' from TV show `` Happy Days , '' and David Hasselhoff , better known as , er , `` The Hoff , '' are wearing Renaissance wigs , badly drawn mustaches , and 45 kilograms of embroidered velvet as they bring to life one of the most infamous panto characters of all -- Hook . `` For me , there 's no other part , '' said 68-year-old Winkler , who has been playing the Peter Pan villain since 2006 , resurrecting him again at London 's Richmond Theater this year . `` All of a sudden you just hear the tiniest voice on the planet either yelling 'Booooo ' or 'Peter ! He 's behind yoooouuu . ' Then when Peter is banishing me from Neverland you hear this voice go 'Yay ! ' and I turn to where it 's coming from and say 'Well , I did n't like you much either . ' It 's just great . '' Read this : Step inside master clown 's fairy tale home . And it 's true , one of the great joys of panto is seeing the audience erupt with lines that have been passed down through generations ; youngsters standing on their seats to yell `` Oh yes he is ! '' while parents laugh at the sexual innuendo flying just above their heads . `` It 's not the kind of theater-going experience where you have to sit still and shut up and feel that you have to be very educated to understand , '' said professor Katherine Newey , chair in theater history at the University of Exeter . `` I think one of the joys of seeing it with children is that you 've got an excuse to be a child again . '' English eccentricity . Not even Queen Elizabeth is immune to the magic of panto , with a treasure trove of old photos recently revealing she wore her own curly wig when she played the male lead of Prince Florizel in a palace production of `` Cinderella '' in 1941 . Swimming in lace ruffles and silk knickerbockers , the then-15-year-old Elizabeth starred opposite her 11-year-old sister Margaret -- who took the title role . `` It 's the one opportunity for us to let our hair down , '' said Newey . `` It seems like this weird , eccentrically British thing -- so of course we keep doing it because part of our national self-image is taking delight in being a bit odd and eccentric . `` Yes , the pantomime dame is a man dressed as a woman . Yes , the princip boy , the hero , that 's a woman dressed up in tights and knee-high boots , slapping her thigh . Obviously . '' Happy Days . And then there 's the larger-than-life villain . Enter The Fonz . `` Everyone who is 35-and-up recognizes me from 'Happy Days , ' said Winkler , today a grandfather-of-three . `` And they can call me The Fonz all they want because they have also gone with me on my journey -- I 've never been restricted in my career by it , '' adds the man who tells me that over his career he 's produced 19 years of TV series if you watched them back-to-back , and in 2011 received an Order of the British Empire for his work with dyslexic children after also suffering from the condition . Read this : 342 takes for one movie scene . The native New Yorker admits he never heard of panto before getting involved . But now he 's , ahem , hooked . `` It 's the story of Peter Pan with Vaudeville in the middle -- it 's like chocolate candy with this delicious melted syrup in the center , '' said Winkler . `` As Hook , I 'm wearing about 100 pounds of velvet , I 'm wearing a King James wig with curls down to my shoulders , I 'm wearing a hat . If you do n't make that animated , you will get swallowed up and then I would just be lost . So the movement is very calculated . It 's a very important part of bringing the character to life . '' Rich tradition . Today , panto is seen as a uniquely Christmas tradition , but it was n't always the case . `` Pantomime as we know it now really emerges in the second half of the 19th century , '' said Newey . `` The original pantomimes had an opening scene , generally a fairy tale , with characters which wore these big masks and were often quite satirical of contemporary politics or events . '' When Victorian writer Charles Dickens began writing about Christmas and pantomime , the two became cemented in the national psyche , with panto even spreading to other Commonwealth nations . And with many Britons having Boxing Day -- December 26 -- off work , it became an ideal time of year to enjoy the show . With The Fonz and The Hoff now tackling panto , does that finally make it cool ? `` I never knew it was n't , '' says Winkler .
Cross-dressing , audience participation , dance routines . It 's got to be `` panto '' Unique British Christmas tradition sees classic fairy tales brought to life onstage . International stars are getting involved , including Henry Winkler and David Hasselhoff . Queen Elizabeth II dressed as a prince , in palace production during teenage years .