The willy nilly silly old bear is back in “Winnie the Pooh,” a charming one-hour production that’s tailor-made for children at Adventure Theatre MTC. The musical runs through May 26, 2019, at the theatre in Glen Echo Park.
This small-cast musical—there’s just four people, most of whom are doubling or tripling up on characters through quick, clever costume additions and subtractions—combines two stories from the original 1926 volume of stories by A. A. Milne, In Which Piglet Meets a Heffalump and In Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest and Piglet Has a Bath into a weaving 60-minute tale. Parents, be aware: If your child is head-over-heels in love with the bouncy, exuberant Tigger, that character doesn’t appear in this production. (Tigger wasn’t introduced until the 1928 sequel, House at Pooh Corner.)
Get ready for a lot of cutesy words here because that’s what this production was—gosh-darn cute, starting with the scenic design by Nephelie Andonyadis. It probably took a lot of restraint from the dozens of children in the audience (and maybe some of their parents, too) not to hop up on the platform—which looked incredibly solid and well-put together—that was reminiscent of playground equipment, dive into the sandbox-like pool, or crawl through an exposed tunnel leading to a backstage area.
Seize the opportunity to cultivate an early love of theatre in your littlest ones by taking them on a trip to Hundred Acre Wood.
“Winnie the Pooh,” directed by Shirley Serotsky, includes a number of familiar antics from the gang at Hundred Acre Wood, much to the delight of the youngsters that are undoubtedly the target audience for Adventure Theatre MTC. Eeyore (Sally Horton, who also plays Kanga) has lost his tail, of course, and Pooh (Derrick Truby Jr.) has gotten his head stuck in a honey jar. The story isn’t stale, though, thanks to the charm of the cast (which also includes Billie Kirshawn as Piglet, Roo, and Owl and Stephen Murray as Christopher Robin and Rabbit), the script, and the short songs that are interspersed throughout.
Adventure Theatre MTC is dedicated to educating and inspiring new generations of theatre artists and audiences, and productions such as “Winnie the Pooh” does a phenomenal job of doing just that for the youngest patrons. Seize the opportunity to cultivate an early love of theatre in your littlest ones by taking them on a trip to Hundred Acre Wood with “Winnie the Pooh” at Adventure Theatre MTC.
Running Time: 60 minutes, no intermission.
“Winnie the Pooh” runs through May 26, 2019, at Adventure Theatre MTC in Glen Echo Park. For more information or to buy tickets, visit Adventure Theatre’s website. A sensory-friendly and ASL-interpreted performance of “Winnie the Pooh” is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, 2019.
