Home ยป Onstage
Sleeping Beauty, Refreshed: A musical fairytale
By Krista Carlson
The Storybook Theater (in conjunction with Theater West) is putting on quite a playful play. Presenting an adaptation of Sleeping Beauty like none before it, they aim to please.
And please the audience they certainly do. This play is an especially big hit with the young and adorable crowd. Children between the ages of three and 10, both boys and girls, bubbled with wonder and delight as the show progressed. In fact, if you aren't between three and 10, or next to someone who is, you'd better be a kid at heart to enjoy this show. And even if none of that applies to you, if you just want to enjoy a simply silly good time, the Theater West for Sleeping Beauty is a good place to do that too.
The adaptation, written and directed by Lloyd J. Schwartz, is a creative and engaging story that brings Sleeping Beauty to audiences with a whole new vibrance.
The way Schwartz injects this classic fairytale with original songs, which he's authored for this production, provide a gleeful dose of play and whimsy. Especially the quite unexpected inclusion of the song "Say Hello to a Monkey."
Granted, I know of no other version of Sleeping Beauty that has any monkeys anywhere in the storyline, but this song is just one of many that continue to keep things bouncing along in storybook theater style.
The other seven musical numbers in the show include many sing along parts, filling up the theater with reverberating melodies throughout the story.
The show opens off stage with Bonnie Kalisher as Morbid the Fairy dancing and singing through the aisles, and instantly little tiny heads begin to pop up from their seats to follow her around the theater. Kalisher is no stranger to Storybook Theater; she has appeared in numerous other productions including Cinderella; Goldilocks and the Three Bears; Aladdin, the Princess, and the Magic Lamp; Rumpelstiltskin and others, and is the recipient of Best Actress in Children's Theatre from the Valley Theatre League.
Morbid begins getting the kids involved early, and the ability to participate is instantly a huge hit. Unlike a traditional play, where it's important to sit still, not disturb your neighbor and follow the story, here your neighbor just may be a character in the play or end up on stage before the show is through.
The cast of this romp through storybook land is conscious of the audience in so many ways. Countless times the kids are welcomed on stage-to sing, to dance, to carry along the story and interact with the king, queen, princess Aurora, the handsome prince and Morbid.
There are quite a few occasions in which the audience participation is darn overwhelming. Every time a child was called up to help, it became evident quite quickly, the volunteers for any and every role were plenty, and the stage was often filled with the cutest cast Sleeping Beauty has even known.
The best moment of the entire show was in fact a time when just about every child in the theater surrounded the sleeping princess' bed with the king and queen and conducts a series of attempts to wake her from her magical slumber. Led by the royal parents, the children sing, plead and even resort to tickling! It's almost as painful as it is funny to watch. Erin Holt as the sleeping princess remained still when tens of little fingers work to wiggle laughter out of her.
The King and Queen, played by Matthew Hoffman and Susan Morgenstern, both let their inner child shine bright as the very musical and quite a bit silly portrayal of the royal parents of a cursed princess. Princess Aurora and her fated Handsome Prince, played by Adam Conger, are also filled with a very playful spirit in their roles as well.
Sure, this is no Broadway show, but it's so much fun-It's a play, it's a musical, it's interactive, and will leave you feeling like you just came not just from a play in a theater, but from a magical playtime.
Runs through March 14. Adults $12. Children $10. Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles.
(818) 761-2203.
www.theatrewest.org