/  Features

CRITIC'S PICK

'If You Give a Pig a Party'

If you give the Dallas Children's Theater a great picture book, the company will probably want to make a really cool musical out of it. That's what DCT has been doing for years with Steven Kellogg books, and that's what it's planning for Laura Numeroff's If You Give a Pig a Party, the latest in the author's best-selling series that includes If You Give a Moose a Muffin and If You Give a Pig a Pancake. Look for old hands stirring up young fun at the helm of this world premiere. DCT education director Nancy Schaeffer, who last year directed an adaptation of Ms. Numeroff's If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, is directing, choreographing and writing the script. (Ms. Schaeffer's husband, Karl Schaeffer, who starred in If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, will return as the Mouse in this show.) B. Wolf, who has composed some dazzling scores for the DCT, including The Velveteen Rabbit (coming back in November), says she's never had an easier time with the music. "It was crazy and joyful," she says. "It sang itself to me. I took down the notes, and there it is." Ms. Numeroff will stay after the Sept. 24 performances at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. to sign copies of her book purchased at the DCT gift shop. For more information about this and a fundraiser reception featuring Ms. Numeroff, call 214-978-0110.
– Nancy Churnin

Sept. 22 through Oct. 22, Baker Theater, Rosewood Center for Family Arts

CHILDREN'S EVENTS

NANCY CHURNIN'S TOP FIVE

1. Barney Live! The Let's Go Tour, presented by AEG Live and HIT Entertainment, Sept. 2, Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie. There's a new dino in town: Riff, a 6-year-old hadrosaur, whose crest blinks with color when he performs. Expect a lot of colorful blinking when he joins Barney, BJ and Baby Bop in their new 25-song show. If you want another whiff of Riff, the hadrosaur makes his debut on the Barney: Let's Make Music DVD, in stores Sept. 5, and in the new season of Barney & Friends on PBS Kids on Sept. 18.

2. El Conejito Verde/The Green Rabbit, a production of the Latin Arts Association of Fort Worth and the Teatro de la Rosa Theater Company, presented by Mesquite Arts Council, Sept. 14-15, Mesquite Arts Center. In this fanciful adaptation of an old Mexican folk tale, actors ask children in the audience to help with the magic as a prince learns life lessons after he's turned into a rabbit. It's the first bilingual show for the Mesquite Arts Council, but it won't be the last, says managing director Michael Templeton, who says the show helps different cultures connect. "We really enjoyed the cooperation and the professionalism of the Latin Arts Association, and we're already talking to them about doing another show in the spring."

3. A Year With Frog and Toad, presented by Creative Arts Theatre & School, Sept. 22-Oct. 1, at the theater. Frog and Toad, the gentle 2003 Broadway musical adapted from the beloved Arnold Lobel picture books, was nominated for three Tonys, including best musical. Now, in tackling this production, CATS and its plucky amateur youth theater troupe bravely go where no local professional theater has gone before. Director Kathey Ward, who used to read the Lobel books to her young son 25 years ago, says she looks forward to focusing on the heart of the show: friendship.

4. The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, a Radio City Entertainment production presented by Dallas Summer Musicals, Nov. 10-Dec. 3, Nokia Theatre at Grand Prairie. Reindeer fly, Rockettes kick, Santa spreads cheer. And guess who will play Clara in the Nutcracker segment of this holiday extravaganza? The winner of the local "Search for Clara" auditions, to be held Oct. 1 at 12:30 p.m. at the Dallas Opera Rehearsal Hall, 4301 S. Fitzhugh Ave. Call On Location Education at 914-666-3664, e-mail searchforclara@yahoo.com or visit www.radiocityauditions.com for audition information.

5. Rip Van Winkle, a Bits 'N Pieces Puppet Theatre production presented by the Classics Family Theatre Series, Oct. 22, Eisemann Center, Richardson. Rip Van Winkle is more than a tall tale. He's a tall puppet (about 9 feet tall) in a larger-than-life musical production from this Dover, Fla., theater troupe. The inspiration for Rip's size – and that of Bits 'N Pieces' fleet of giant puppets? A teacher who grabbed company founder Jerry Bickel by the ear and complained that her students couldn't see the show from their balcony seats. As the puppeteers spin the Washington Irving tale about a man who falls asleep for many years, the story poses an even bigger question: If you don't work hard on your dreams, do you run the risk of dreaming your life away?

Published in The Dallas Morning News: 09.01.06