‘Monsters, Mayhem’ in Potluck for Kids

“Monsters, Mayhem& Mac ’n Cheese”is afamily-oriented program of dance-theater works by Dani Kuepper, artisticdirector of Danceworks Performance Company. Like the best animated movies, it’sintended to appeal to the child in us all. It will surely be memorable for themany children who enjoyed the Sunday afternoon performance I attended, and Irecommend that you take kids to the Oconomowoc Arts Centerwhen the program is repeated at 7 p.m. April 30 and May 1. I left the showgrateful for all I’d been given, but wishing for more complexity.

Humor and tendernessabound. Potluck presents thestereotyped women I associate withappliancecommercials presenting pastel casseroles at a potluck picnic and competing foracclaim. The sole male is flat-footed and off-tempo. The fact that it’s all setto the “Emperor Waltz” by Johann Strauss is already hilarious, and the full-outacting of the dancers kept me in stitches. The waltz was performed with immensecharm by seven musicians from the Milwaukee Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Both Frogs and Wild Things feature engagingly nonhuman movement by the titularcharacters, excellent costumes and narrative suspense: Will the princess escapethe frogs; will the boy control the beasts?

For When the Bough Breaks, the all-agesaudience was given props to arrange on stage as an obstacle course symbolic ofreal-world dangers. In Maestro,the audience stole the show by design,dancing steps they’d (sort of) rehearsed in a joyous pre-show workshop, whileKuepper in a tuxmom as vaudeville clownconducted.