The children’s theater scene in Chicago is more crowded than ever, and that’s a good thing — especially for families looking for a reason to pry the Game Boy out of their kids’ hands.
The Chicago Children’s Theatre, with its debut production “A Year With Frog and Toad,” is the newest kid on the block. It joins, among others, the Emerald City Theatre Company, now in its 10th season with a production of “Charlotte’s Web,” and the real veteran of the bunch, Chicago Playworks for Families and Young Audiences, which was founded in 1925 as the Goodman Children’s Theatre. Like all its productions, Playworks’ current show, “The Boxcar Children,” is produced by the DePaul University Theatre School.
What these and other children’s theater groups share, their directors say, is a desire to present shows that are smart enough to appeal both to kids and their parents. “The stories of Frog and Toad just speak to the child in all of us,” says Jacqueline Russell, artistic director of the Chicago Children’s Theatre. “We can re-late to them.”
It’s also “important to find work that doesn’t talk down to [children],” she says. “We need to find more work in a theatrical realm that’s comparable to children’s literature.”
Perhaps it’s no wonder, then, that many of the current productions are based on favorite kids’ books. Here’s a look at a few current shows:
“A Year With Frog and Toad”
Chicago Children’s Theatre
This infectious musical (expect several of the songs to get stuck in your head) is based on Arnold Lobel’s terrific children’s books about two best friends, worrywart Toad and level-headed Frog, and their snail, bird, mouse, mole and turtle pals.
“There’s such a beautiful, almost Zen quality to Lobel’s storytelling,” which conveys a real sweetness and gentleness between the friends, Russell says, and the musical is “an incredibly true adaptation” of the books.
The amiable amphibians experience a year of adventures. Will snail ever deliver the letter? Will Frog and Toad be able to resist the cookies? Will Toad look funny in a bathing suit? You’ll have to hop on over to find out.
“Charlotte’s Web”
Emerald City Theatre Company
Based on the 1952 E.B. White book about the heroic web- and word-spinning spider Charlotte and her pig friend Wilbur, this Emerald City Theatre Company play makes generous use of acrobatics and audience participation to keep kids engaged.
“We introduced new elements into it,” says Karen Cardarelli, Emerald City’s executive and artistic director. Those would include graceful somersaults and other gymnastics moves choreographed by Lauren Hirte, a member of The Actors Gymnasium.
“The biggest challenge in appealing to kids of this generation is exploring and maximizing visual opportunities,” says Cardarelli, who calls the production “a major light and sound spectacle.”
Along with a cast of amusing farm critters and their gentle barnyard humor come some life lessons, poignant moments and a fresh definition of “spin control.”
“The Boxcar Children”
Chicago Playworks for Families and Young Audiences
After their parents die in a boating accident during the Depression, four siblings have a choice: they can go to separate foster homes, or they can run away together to try to make it on their own.
They pick the second route, of course, and in this tale of self-reliance and familial love (based on the book by Gertrude Chandler Warner), they wind up turning an abandoned railroad boxcar into a cozy home of their own.
Director John Jenkins, an associate professor of acting at DePaul, says he chose the play, one of three in the Chicago Playworks series, in part because his student actors knew the story so well.
You’ll find no dancing animals here, nor audience participation. In fact, though brother Benny gets his share of laughs, this is pretty serious stuff, especially when one of the children becomes seriously ill. But Jenkins feels young audiences are up to it.
It’s “important to take care with things in crafting [theater] for children,” he says. “I don’t want to play down to them. I want to inspire them, make things clear and beautiful for them.”
“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Other `Just So’ Kipling Stories”
Lifeline Theatre
Speaking of serious, Rudyard Kipling’s tale of the mongoose Rikki-tikki-tavi, who defends an English family living in India against a pair of deadly cobras, is not without its frightening moments.
Even so, “although we thought we’d have some weepers,” says artistic director Dorothy Milne, “so far, nobody’s been taken down.”
Lifeline’s production–actually three Kipling tales (the others are “How the Camel Got His Hump” and “How the Elephant Got His Trunk”) linked by some Bollywood dancing–is heavy on audience involvement.
Among other things, “the kids help create the magic that takes us to India,” Milne says. “Watching is fun, but I thrill to the [plays] where kids are feeling part of the solution to the problem.”
“I Dream in Blues”
Vittum Theater
Based not on a book, but rather on the childhood of Chicago musician Katherine Davis, the Vittum Theater calls “I Dream in Blues,” its latest production, a “bluesical.”
“I became intrigued by [Davis’] personal story,” says Tom Arvetis, Vittum’s artistic director, who worked with her on the show for two years.
“I Dream in Blues” takes place in Cabrini-Green in 1965, when Davis was 12 years old and dreaming about a future life in music.
In addition, it tells something of the history of Cabrini-Green, which many people today view only “as an eyesore on the landscape,” he says. “I felt it was important to remind people of a time when family and community were embraced by people who lived there.”
And the music–early R&B and doo wop–supplied by a five-piece band, plays a key role as well, with plenty of opportunity for kids to sing and clap along to the beat.
Arvetis hopes this unusual collaboration will appeal to 8- to 14-year-olds, an age group he believes children’s theater traditionally underserves.
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Let your kids pick: 5 current and upcoming choices for young audiences
Play: “A Year With Frog and Toad”
Through March 5 at Owen Theatre at the Goodman, 170 N. Dearborn St. Contact 312-443-3800 or www.goodmantheatre.org; tickets $17-$38.
What it’s about: An amphibious odd couple and their animal friends sing and dance their way through four seasons’ worth of antics.
Who will like it: Most kids age 4 and older, and any adult who can appreciate story of a true but sometimes maddening friend.
Be aware: Only a mildly scary dream about a “large and terrible frog.”
Highlight: A snail delivering the mail. Get it?
Play: “Charlotte’s Web”
Through April 2 at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln Ave. Contact 773-935- 6100 or www.emeraldcitytheatre.org; tickets $9-$12.
What it’s about: A clever spider saves a lovable pink pig’s bacon.
Who will like it: Children age 5 and older, and adults who fondly remember E.B. White’s tale.
Be aware: Some talk of turning poor Wilbur into ham, but we all know that won’t happen.
Highlight: Charlotte gracefully spinning her magical, glow-in-the-dark web.
Play: “The Boxcar Children”
Through March 11 at the Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive. Contact 312-922-1999 or http://the atreschool.depaul.edu; tickets $8.
What it’s about: Rather than be separated, four orphaned siblings run away to forge a life on their own.
Who will like it: Thoughtful over-8’s.
Be aware: One cigar-smoking character (cough, cough); children grieving over drowned parents.
Highlight: The children awaken to find an abandoned railroad boxcar, which they promptly turn into their home sweet home.
Play: “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Other `Just So’ Kipling Stories”
Through March 26 at Lifeline Theatre, 6912 N. Glenwood Ave. Contact 773-761-4477; tickets $9.
What it’s about: A series of three Rudyard Kipling stories, including one of a brave mongoose that defends a family against menacing cobras.
Who will like it: Ages 5 and older, India-philes and animal lovers.
Be aware: The main story is a life-and-death tale.
Highlight: The triumph of good over evil, of course.
Play: “I Dream in Blues”
Saturday to Feb. 25 at the Vittum Theater, 1012 N. Noble St. Contact 773-342-4141 or www.vittumtheater.org; tickets $10-$15.
What it’s about: A girl dreams of becoming a blues musician while growing up in Cabrini-Green.
Who will like it: 8-year-olds to young teens– and folks who love the blues.
Be aware: Story tackles some racial issues.
Highlight: Chicago blues musicians playing their hearts out, and an opportunity to sing and clap along.
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