First Steps at First Stage

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Photo by Paul Ruffolo

First Stage

First Stage continues its First Steps Series with a production of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe’s Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It’s a snuggly little studio theater production that’s OK for 3-year-olds. Stiles and Drewe fashion a tale of empowerment, communication and cooperation around the classic fairy tale.

An adventurous, brightly clad Goldilocks has joined her father in the woods. The charming Matt Daniels plays the lumberjack father of Goldi (played in two different casts by two different students). Goldi’s father is clearing the way for a road to pass through the woods. Naturally, news of this is disconcerting for a family of bears who live in those woods. Feeling particularly upset about not being allowed to help her father, Goldi journeys into the woods to explore, which sets up a contemporary kids’ musical theater adaptation of the classic tale.

Baby Bear and three birch trees are played by First Stage students, with the trees depicted as mischievous little forest creatures. Director Jennifer Adams has done an excellent job of fostering a warm congeniality about the production. Towering Matt Daniels swinging a double-sided axe at a few kids would look strikingly sinister if it wasn’t handled with the right sense of fun. Adams and company cleverly render the perfect playfulness. Marvette Knight and Thomas J. Novak are also quite friendly as Mama and Papa Bear, keeping any potentially frightening aspects of the story from muddling the central theme of the show. First Stage deftly executes this story about the importance of different groups of people getting along in a world that keeps getting smaller.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears runs through March 1 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut St. For tickets, call 414-267-2961 or visit firststage.org.