Off the List – Children’s Theatre

Driving home from work one evening (okay, more likely late at night), I noticed a promotion on the Bridgeview Center board touting the upcoming production by The Ottumwa Community Children’s Playhouse (whew, say that seven times fast) of “The Pied Piper”.  Since not much else was going on that weekend, plans were made.

I will not pretend to be any sort of artistic critic, and I certainly wouldn’t plan on being overly snarky about kids (most of the time… at least intentionally).

That said, the play was:

• Great in the make-up, costume, and scenery departments (see below)
• Featured a LOT of extras (though being an open community theater group, I am sure they did not turn anyone away)
• Heavily attended by family, which was a shame – I would expect it to be better supported by the community.  Maybe it was at other showings, since we did not attend opening night.
• A bit heavy on the singing, to me, though most all the singers performed admirably
• Seemed to over-rely on a few performers (caveat: I am sure that is because the Director thought there were a few key people they could rely on)
• Cute, and captivated most of the children in attendance.    I certainly had no complaints at the end of the night.

Despite being scared at the beginning, my son was quite excited to get his picture taken after the show in the receiving line.

Summary
It was a good time and definitely a nice distraction from the typical weekend in small-town Iowa.  The Ottumwa Community Children’s Playhouse does two shows a year, from what I overheard, so this would be something we’ll watch for later.

Score (Out of Five Bridges)
Fun:
Uniqueness:
Repeatability:
Overall: