 |
| Mike Spee and Fawn Ledesma in Dick Whittington and His Cat (Chris Bennion) |
Dick Whittington and
His Cat
Through December 21, 2014
The world premiere musical at Seattle Children’s Theatre, Dick Whittington and His Cat, is the
perfect all-family holiday show this season! At a fast-paced hour and a half
(including intermission), this magical adventure will entrance children as
small as three and keep their parents, aunts, uncles and grands happy to be
there.
Book and lyrics are by Jeff Church, currently producing
artistic director at The Coterie Theater in Kansas City, and local
multi-talented composer Richard Gray.
The score is filled with ornate references to Irish drinking songs that augment
the British flavor of the script. The theme focuses on giving a child a chance,
since Dick Whittington starts life as an orphan and is dependent on people
believing he can be trusted.
The hard-working cast of nine becomes travelling vagabonds,
Londoners, sailors, foreign court dignitaries, pirates, and more. A fun
activity might be to see if you can spot the single actor as he or she moves
through as many as seven or more different characters.
The story of the musical is almost too compressed and based
on myth-laden tales of a real Mayor of London in the 1300s and some current
children’s books. A young orphan (an appealing and good-hearted Mike Spee) goes to London to see
streets paved with gold and is given a mysterious cat, TrueHeart, that brings him good
fortune. In this version, while he meets a kindly employer (John Patrick Lowrie), the housekeeper
(a bitter and funny Jayne Muirhead)
kidnaps the cat and sends it to sea.
Dick must set sail to rescue his cat, and in the process, he
sails to Cabar and meets the ruler (Jared
Michael Brown), but just misses getting his cat back. He must find Pirate
Bess (Hana Lass) to get the cat, and
is dismayed to find the daughter of the employer (Fawn Ledesma) held captive as well. He tries to sneak a rescue of
both the cat and daughter, but is captured and made to walk the plank.
Given a few “last words,” Dick speaks so movingly about it
being Christmastime in London that the crew is motivated to mutiny and go back
to see their families. In a trice (and really I mean that, this is the fastest
wrap up to an adventure I have ever seen), they are back in London for
Christmas, Dick is prosperously decked out with a gentleman’s wig, and another
young man is attracted to the cat, whereupon Dick gives TrueHeart away to a new
owner.
With Vickielee
Wohlbach, Cobey Mandarino, and
Richard Gray also performing, there are just enough players to fill the stage
and create big harmonies. Several also play instruments, augmenting the four
musicians in the “pit.” Simple effective moments of choreography (by Crystal Dawn Munkers) amp up the fun in
musical reels.
It’s a “big” show for SCT, in the amount of set changes and
locations from London town to sea to foreign land (designed by Carey Wong, with lights by Andrew Smith, sound by Chris R. Walker, and dozens of costumes
for multiple small roles by Cathy Hunt).
Annett Mateo creates several magical
puppets, one of which is a definite “ah” moment for the audience.
The cast is clearly having fun which helps pull the audience
in. The visuals are gorgeous and the songs are amusing, light, and occasionally
uplifting (giving a boy a chance gives him wings). Spee leads the cast with a
sure portrayal, and overall it’s a great time in the theater. Allison Narver’s direction makes for
easy, well-oiled transitions and imbues the production with infectious glee.
No comments:
Post a Comment
This is a moderated comment section. Any comment can be deleted if the moderator feels that basic civility standards are not being met. Disagreements, however, if respectfully stated, are certainly welcome. Just keep the discussion intelligent and relatively kind.