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Adapted from Doreen Cronin’s children’s book by the same name, Dooby Dooby Moo is a charming, gentle barnyard tale for little ones. Marquette University’s production takes audiences on an “American Bandstand”-flavored musical journey in which Cow (Katie Markle), Pig (Piper McCaffrey), Duck (Maaz Ahmed) and newest farm addition Ewe (Liz De Vere Hunt) secretly rehearse for a talent show at the county fair. Why the secrecy? Farmer Brown (Nick Parrott) is just plain tired of the barn animals going on adventures; viewers will benefit from reading the preceding books in Cronin’s Click Clack series to catch the sly references to the characters’ previous shenanigans.
Grown-up social messages are layered in fairly unassumingly. For instance, Ewe comes to the farm because she’s been laid off due to downsizing at her previous job at a sweater factory. She’s afraid that she lost her job because she wasn’t good enough and the main action of the story works to unpack this. There are also many teaching moments, such as the distinction between “you” and “ewe,” which will feel a little overplayed to grown-up audience members but functions as a nice reinforcement of the concept of homophones for kids.
Under Niffer Clarke’s direction, stand-out performance moments come from De Vere Hunt’s welcoming speech to the audience, beautiful two-part harmonies sung by Markle and McCaffrey, Ahmed’s strong physical characterization of Duck and Parrott’s tongue-in-cheek gruffness as Farmer Brown. The school children audience at the preview performance I attended also tremendously enjoyed the “American Idol”-spoofing puppets in the talent show scene. Clarke and Parrott’s dance choreography is also notable for its entertaining and well-executed sampling of the classic moves of the ’50s and ’60s.
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Production wise, Marquette’s offering is attractively simple. Aside from a few sound issues causing some dialogue to be lost during the preview, all elements cohered well. Lindsay Webster’s large red barn set piece dominates the stage, offering a pleasant illustration-style backdrop for the action, and Grace Weir’s costumes reinforce the show’s retro vibe.
A little ray of sunshine in the dreariness of winter, Dooby Dooby Moo is a great choice for the kiddos.
Jan. 7-20 at Marquette University’s Helfaer Theatre, 525 N. 13th St. For tickets, visit showclix.com/event/dooby-dooby-moo.
