Kids’ Multi-Plot Adventure with First Stage

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Image via First Stage

First Stage pays tribute to variable plot children’s books of another era with its internet-based production of Finegan Kruckemeyer’s Escape from Peligro Island. Audience members playing along from home can vote to “Choose Their Own Adventures” through the potentially “Endless Quest” of a boy named Callaway Brown. Periodically throughout the story 70-80 minute story, kids are prompted to text their votes for different directions in which the story might go. Percentages appear onscreen as votes are tabulated. Every choice ends up feeling a bit like election night coverage as votes tumble in over the course of a few seconds, finally arriving on the path the story will take.

First Stage Young Performer Loralei Madson is suitably heroic as Callaway, who is urged on through the winding path of adventure via audience votes. An airplane ride to Australia is cut short as the plane crashes on an evidently deserted island. Matt Daniels strikes dramatic, often classically villainous tones in a variety of roles. The ensemble also features cleverly comic work by Nadja Simmonds and a warm introduction by the charismatic David Flores, who also appears in the show. The action appears onscreen with each actor in his or her own box against a backdrop which features simple scenic elements and the occasional bit of action animation.

The story is a fun and pulpy action-adventure story that just might feature time travel, dinosaurs and super-heroics depending on audience choices. The interactive nature of the story can be fun at times without pushing too much complexity into a story that draws most of its appeal from breezy, simple storytelling. It’s pleasantly engaging silliness that manages a moment or two of real, heartfelt emotion.

First Stage’s Escape from Peligro Island continues livestreamed through Broadway On Demand online through Feb. 28. For more information, visit firststage.org.