Paul Ruffolo Photography
Spookley with First Stage
It’s always a pleasure being able to go and review a show with my daughter Amalia. As she is only in the shadow of a half a decade old, there aren’t that many opportunities to bring her to the theater. Thankfully, First Stage has a series of kid’s shows for the youngest of theatergoers. This month First Stage’s First Steps series presents the world-premiere of Spookley the Square Pumpkin. It’s a 45-minute puppet-based musical recommended for kids ages 3 - 6.
Joe Troiano wrote the script for the show based on his beloved children’s book The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin and the CGI animated film that it inspired. In spite of its popularity, Amalia and I hadn’t heard of the book before. I showed my daughter the page for the show on First Stage's website and asked her if she wanted to go to the show. There a pleasant, little square pumpkin gazed out at us from the webpage. “He’s cute!” Her voice lit-up. She was suddenly excited to go in a way few people can manage once they've gotten beyond five years of age.
The big selling point of the show for my daughter was the title character's cuteness. The show doesn’t betray the surface appeal of a cute square pumpkin. Designer Brandon Kirkham has done a really beautiful job of developing a stylized pumpkin patch with plenty of trench space for puppeteers to move about in without distracting from the hand puppets which are the center of the action. It was a relief for me to find out that the characters were every bit as cute in the live stage version of the story as they have been in other forms of media. My daughter’s attention was secured by a bunch of foam hand puppets representing various pumpkins of various sizes and shapes, a couple of melon back-up singers and a few spiders. Spookley learns that it's not only okay to be different, but the difference and diversity benefit everybody. It's sort of a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer story for the fall harvest.
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Serious issues are presented in a fun, safe context for kids. Brandon Kirkham has made everything cute. Cute set. Cute pumpkins. Cute melons. Yes, even the spiders are cute. That it is all appealing without being cloying or obnoxious is quite an accomplishment. The real accomplishment with this production, though is how engrossing the illusion is. There characters are all so fully integrated into the story that it scarcely feels like a puppet show. It's a kid's musical where most of the characters just happen to be puppets.
The ensemble does such a good job of bringing across the slickly engrossing emotion of a 45-minute musical that the puppets seem quite natural as conduits for the story even if they aren’t extremely expressive. Overly expressive and representative faces on foam puppets might compromise that all-important cuteness that raises so many kids’ interest in the story. The actors voices provide all the emotion needed to bring across the full reality of the show.
Little Amalia’s favorite voice was the voice of Spookley himself...First Stage Theatre Academy summer intern Madelyn Ballard played Spookley in the performance we saw. Ballard’s got a sweetness about her characterization that doesn’t seem overstressed or overemphasized, which can be difficult to manage for any actor. Ballard has been taking classes with First Stage for four years. As a result, she shows great poise and warmth onstage behind the puppet in the lead role. It’s always remarkable seeing an actor who has been studying with First Stage for a number of years. It’s a great program that does great work. You can really see the quality of the program in a show like this.
My favorite voice in the show was Zach Thomas Woods who played Big Tom and Little Tom: a couple of mismatched pumpkins attached at the vine. Big Tom had a soft, gentle voice. Little Tom had a more abrasive voice that was the polar opposite of Big Tom. Woods was able to alternate between the two characters with impressive fluidity. As Jack Scarecrow, Chris Feiereisen served as something of a host of the show as the only non-puppet.
On the way out, my daughter wanted a $10 plush Spookley. (That’s a $10 donation to First Stage, so I was more than happy to buy it for her.) She cuddled with it on the bus ride back home. No familiarity with the character prior to the play and she already loves him. (Later that day Amalia that we acquaint ourselves with the book and the animated film. Three versions of the same story in one day, which is saying a lot for a pre-schooler.) She may not have focussed-in on the central theme of the story, but she knows that it's okay to be different. Now she's got memories of the show and a fuzzy, little pumpkin cube to reinforce that knowledge. She loved the show. I’m glad I asked her if she wanted to go.
First Stage’s production of Spookley, the Square Pumpkin runs through Nov. 1 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center on 325 W. Walnut St. For ticket reservations, visit First Stage online.
