We Are In a Play!
Vanilla. Validated.
I think I’ve made some mistakes. As a parent. After sitting with my friend Amanda Simpson and her five kids during a performance of “Elephant & Piggie’s We Are in a Play!” at 6th St Playhouse, I am now dogged by worry that I have failed to teach my yard apes to appreciate the vanilla things in life. And yes. Amanda has five. They’re Mormon. Enough said. While my two knuckleheads stared impassively at the musical adaptation of Mo Willems’ popular story books, Amanda’s kids were whooping it up. Dancing in their seats. Shouting out punch lines as if Peaches Christ was up there hosting Rocky Horror at The Castro. I mean. Huh? Where was that enthusiasm from my sprogs? As a children’s author, Willems has an intriguingly stripped-down style for his “Elephant & Piggie” series. An elephant with glasses and a pig talk in speech balloons against a white background. That’s pretty much it. It’s imaginatively flexible and begs to be read aloud in funny voices. Especially by ex-theater majors. I can imagine that coming up with a directorial concept to stage a live show from source material so deliberately detached must have been challenging, and I think Tyler Marques directed a sweet albeit inelaborate production for Sonoma County rugrats. Backed by an endearingly pitchy Doo-Wop group of jazz-scatting Squirelles, Ted Smith and Katie Foster seemed to genuinely have fun as Elephant Gerald and his bestus friend Piggie. Costumes by Donnie Frank served lighthearted eye candy with thanks to Ryan Severt’s cheerful lighting design for the assist.
After the show I tried to mine my kids for quotes, obviously hoping to rip them off for this column. I let them choose fake names and they eagerly identified as Optimus Prime Esquire and Vomit Diarrhea Uranus. Like I said. Mistakes were made.
“So, uh…Vomit….what did you think of the show?”
“TORTURE.”
“Oof. Okay. How about you, Optimus?”
“I don’t know. There weren’t any guns. Or swords. Or bombs. Or spring shoes.”
Yeah. Mistakes. Don’t get me wrong, I think that 6th St Playhouse is doing a great job for their young audiences. A warm front-of-house staff kept meltdowns at bay with crafts in the lobby. Wiggles could be wiggled when intermission was called thirty minutes in after an invigorating “Ice Cream Hero” number brought the party to a kiddie show that probably could have used more party. Still, it was perfectly pleasant. Like vanilla ice cream. But the good kind. The Madagascar kind. Maybe it didn’t fly with mine own crotchlings, and I guess like most parents on earth, I will assume that whatever reaction they had is my fault, my bad and because of me. Maybe 6th Street Playhouse’s production of “Elephant and Piggie’s We Are in a Play!” was a little tame for the theater snobs that I’m raising, but hey. The Mormons loved it.
Next Up: Sonoma County theater kiddos take the stage at 6th St Playhouse. 6th St Studio Youth Players presents Roald Dahl’s WILLY WONKA KIDS Oct 26-29. Get your tickets here: https://6thstreetplayhouse.vbotickets.com/event/Willy_Wonka_KIDS_Performance/106881
