It’s
always best if a children’s theater piece is also amusing to the adults who are
accompanying the little ones. After all, they deserve something for bringing
the tykes to the show, paying for their tickets, and keeping track of their
shoes, etc.
And
this play, a Norse myth adapted for the stage by Michael Geither, has plenty
for kids and adults to enjoy. Geither’s script is quite charming, and the
performance by the five cast members, under Alison Garrigan’s energetic
direction, is often hilarious.
Lucy
is a young girl who is fascinated by a man whom she knows is in the tree
outside her home. And when she goes to sleep, the tree comes to life as the
impish Loki ushers her through a dream world populated by a lot of people with
too many consonants in their names.
One
of these is Thorbjorn Horabrudr, and Nate Miller is wonderful in the part,
using his infinitely expressive face to register all sorts of Norwegian
emotions. It’s hard to take your eyes off him, he’s so consistently amusing.
Then
there’s muscle-bound but not-too-bright Thor, who wields his thunder hammer
with relish in the person of Nicholas Chokan. And Brittany Gaul plays Lucy’s
mom and the fiendish, fox-like Fenrir with gusto.
Bryan
Ritchey as the tree-man Loki is remarkably agile, entirely personable, and
quite a kidder: “Pull my finger!” And Melissa T. Crum captures the girlish
enthusiasm of Lucy when she finds herself in that magical world.
Garrigan
utilizes dance, inventive movement, puppets, masks, and a huge blue lobster to
keep things interesting for the kiddies.
However,
there’s a lot of unnecessary exposition jammed into the script, with a number
of names and other details that get lost in the telling. This is possibly an
attempt to be true to the source material, but the actors still make this
hour-long journey a fun and often laugh-out-loud ride.
Loki
& Lucy
Through
October 12 at Talespinner Children’s Theatre, The Reinberger Auditorium, 5209
Detroit Avenue, 216-264-9680.
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