As you enter the Studebaker Theater for “The Enormous Crocodile,” a visiting family show from the U.K.-based Roald Dahl Story Company, a foam monkey nut (aka a peanut) is helpfully provided. And, at the appropriate point in the show, you are encouraged to throw said goober at the performers. Well, more specifically, you can lob it at the titular croc to try and dissuade the overgrown reptile from following his usual habit of eating children.
To say this was a moment of catharsis at Friday night’s Chicago opening is to understate. Like a giant beast, the kids in the crowd flung their missiles toward the stage and their predator, who clearly was knocked off his game by the intensity of the reaction. Your friendly critic, of course, demurred, although it took some self-control.
The Roald Dahl Story Company (now Netflix-owned) is the business of creating new projects from the famously creepy children’s writer, most famously responsible for “Matilda” and “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” but also “James and the Giant Peach” and “The BFG.” Even though most of those stories were penned for a generation who are now parents (and most likely of adult children), kids of all ages tend to respond to Dahl’s uncanny ability to write from a child’s point of view, not to mention his aversion to the typical moral sentimentalism found in most children’s literature. He was never in the business of telling children they were safe; rather, he created the creatures of their nightmares, but his wacky, language-rich yarns usually ended with the triumph of a plucky kid over some scary beast, often in human-authoritarian form but sometimes lurking in “the biggest, brownest, muddiest river,” as in this case.
Developed and directed by Emily Lim, the hour-long show is filled with puppets (it began at the tail end of the Chicago International Puppet Festival) and it is billed as a musical (with music by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab, book and lyrics by Suhayla El-Bushra, and additional music and lyrics by Tom Brady), although the singing is limited in scope and quality and the musical score pretty much emanates from one on-stage dude with a lot of keyboards and such. If you are expecting a Broadway-level tour, or something on the level of “Matilda,” you will be disappointed and I think it could have gone a lot further when it came to really communicating with the audience. The sound reinforcement also was not great at the opening performance.
But as a good time for young fans of the book replete with the chance to throw things? Knock yourself out, folks.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: “The Enormous Crocodile” (2.5 stars)
When: Through Feb. 21
Where: Studebaker Theater in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Running time: 1 hour
Tickets: $26-$71.50 at 312-753-3210 and www.fineartsbuilding.com
