Dandini (character) swap. Dandini (character) Dandini is a character in the opera "La Cenerentola" by Rossini and also in the "Cinderella" pantomime. He is the male servant of the Prince (the principal male character: Don Ramiro in the opera, commonly Prince Charming in the pantomime). Dandini helps the Prince to meet the principal female character (known as Angelina or Cinderella) without her knowing that he is a prince. Dandini pretends to be the prince and the real prince pretends to be his servant. In panto it is often played by a young woman, who dresses similarly to the Principal boy for the
Pantomime that continues in pantomime today. As manager of Drury Lane in the 1870s, Augustus Harris wrote a series of extraordinarily popular pantomimes, focusing on the spectacle of the productions, that pushed this transition by emphasizing comic business in the pantomime opening and grand processionals. By the end of the 19th century, the harlequinade had become merely a brief epilogue to the pantomime, dwindling into a brief display of dancing and acrobatics. It lingered for a few decades longer but finally disappeared, although a few of its comic elements had been incorporated into the pantomime stories. The last harlequinade was played