The show is part of theFirst Steps series, a relatively new effort by First Stage to introduce veryyoung children to the enjoyment of live theater. They have made it extremelyeasy for a 3- to 6-year-old audience to feel right at home. First off, many ofthe “seats” are carpet squares placed on the floor, where children can easilyrelax on mom or dad’s lap. Another option is space on wide, carpeted stepslocated further back in the room. Shows are short: 45 minutes without anintermission (which eliminates begging for cookies and juice in between acts).And if the current production is any indication, the First Steps programs arebursting with kid-friendly antics. For instance, the extremely flexible actorwho portrays the mouse rarely sits still (or shuts up). The audience especiallyappreciates his pratfalls and attempts at disco dancing. Aside from some briefmusical cues that parents will appreciate, the show is totally in sync with thekids.
In addition to the Mouse,the two-actor play includes a middle-school-aged actor (child actors are alwaysdouble-cast). In this performance, the role of the Boy was played byseventh-grader Maxwell Zupke. He seems extremely comfortable onstage andenunciates his lines so clearly that (easily distracted) kids can still keeptrack of the plot. Just as in the book, the Boy anxiously tries to meet themouse’s demands without trashing his mother’s kitchen. A bit of clever stagemagic “transforms” routine household items into gigantic props that overwhelmthe intrepid mouse. It must be noted that the young audience was particularlydrawn to the oversized crayons, a glass of milk, a mirror, a blanket-sizedbandana handkerchief, etc.
As the Mouse, professionalactor Jordan Ahnquist displays a wonderful knack for physical comedy. A nonstoptalker, the Mouse must keep his patter going while performing all sorts ofstunts. (One of them includes falling into the enormous glass of milk.)Ahnquist makes it look so easy as he scampers all over the set, which isdesigned to look like an oversized kitchen.
Kudos to director JohnMaclay for fully engaging the show’s audience. Parents will appreciate theshow’s fun, upbeat theme. There’s nothing scary here. The Mouse, for instance,wears just a few furry patches that peek out from his overalls, a whiskeredface and an oversized pair of Mickey Mouse-type ears. This is no huge, hairymouse with glittering eyes a la TheNutcracker. Overall, it’s a wonderful first production for young children.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie continues at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Centerthrough Nov. 22.
PERFORMANCE REVIEW
David Gaines’ Masterful ‘Samurai’ Dance
Theatre Gigante entertains with ‘Night at the Movies’
By John Schneider
In A Night at the Movies, Theatre Gigante’s entertaining double billof performance pieces, my greatest pleasure came from watching thesereassuringly seasoned and generous performersand in the case of David Gaines,a master technician of physical theaterexecute highly stylized material sonaturally.
…and…Action! is Malcolm Tulip’s 30-minute piece for Isabelle Kralj,Mark Anderson and John Kishline. Framed by bits from the Casablancasoundtrack, three delicate, vulnerableand anxious actors meet to take a screen test, or else this is the screen test,or the filmmaking process, or the finished film. Within a gracefully writtenhall of mirrors that obliterates distinctions between reality and artifice,Tulip gives each performer two affecting, short arias of self-revelation,ending with Kralj’s touching assertion that when she’s dancing, nothing elseexists. Andersonwas especially striking in melding movement and speech.
Gaines gave the consummateperformance of the night. 7 (x1) Samurai ishis hour-long, one-man version of Kurosawa’s classic film Seven Samurai.Thebrilliance of the composition and execution is indescribable in a short review.Using two beautiful masks and his endlessly plastic body and voice, he portraysall the characters and gruesome action of the film. What’s missing,necessarily, are the gorgeous landscapes and stunning visual compositions that,as it turns out, are the movie’s soul. Still, with his impeccable timing, andalways alive in every atom of his body, Gaines provided an outrageous,uncannily moving example of a performer at one with his art.
