Peter and the Wolf

The Little Theater on the Square

This was the second show in the children's series this year, and the first production we've gone to see. The story is (mostly) the traditional Peter and the Wolf story, set to the music of Prokofiev -- though this production was understandably geared toward children.

The main emphasis for this production was on dance, each character had their own type of dance to go along with their own music. And they spent the first half hour of the show instructing the audience in various types of dances, complete with demonstrations, before even getting into the actual story. The actor playing Peter is the first African American I've seen on stage since we started going to see shows. The Ballet dancing bird is a guy (I thought males did not traditionally dance on pointe), the weakly howling wolf is a girl, as are the 2 mustachioed hunters. As you have probably figured out by now, I wasn't real impressed with the casting -- but what did I think of the show? I've seen worse -- last year's Winnie the Pooh was pretty far out in left field -- but I think the opinion that matters is that of my 5 year old daughter. She sat through the entire show riveted to the action on the stage -- as were most of the rest of the children in the audience. They laughed when they should have, clapped when they should have -- a far cry from the general disinterest occurring during last year's Winnie.

As an adult, the show was almost lame -- but then again, it wasn't meant for me. The kids all loved it -- that's what counts, and that's what made it a successful show -- and one worth taking the kids to.