58. WANDA’S MONSTER: THE MUSICAL
On
Friday, July 19, at 10:30 a.m., a day before my 73rd birthday, I
entered my second childhood when I visited the Vineyard Dimson Theatre on E. 15th
Street to see WANDA’S MONSTER, effectively staged by Adrienne Kapstein. This is
a musical version of a popular 2002 children’s book by Eileen Spinelli, with
music and lyrics by Laurie Berkner and a book by Barbara Zinn Krieger. Only
around 25 people were present in the audience, the majority of them
preschoolers, some of them looking as if they had just popped out of the oven.
TV comic actress Rachel Dratch was in my row with her tiny tot taking part in whatever
little activities the actors asked of the children.
It’s hard to critique a show like
this, since it’s geared for such a young audience. Perhaps the best gauge of
how well it’s working is to watch the reaction of the kids. Although this was
definitely not the most clever or imaginative children’s show I’ve seen over
the past year, it worked its spell just fine and, aside from the usual dashes
to the bathroom, the little ones were good as gold.
The 60-minute show, much of which is
sung to sprightly pop tunes and simple lyrics (“Monster Boogie” seems to be
well known), is about five-year-old Wanda (Laura Hankin, who’s actually a young
woman), who talks to her stuffed animals, which she thinks are real, and who is
afraid of the monster she thinks is
living in her closet. I’m sure a lot of people reading this are going to think
Spinelli’s stolen their story since most of us have had similar fantasies in
our early lives (and many of us still have them). Wanda’s eight-year-old brother, Bobby (Nick
Flatto, another grownup actor), is the designated cynic, and Granny (Jamie
Kolnik) is her big support. No parents are visible in Wanda’s world, although we know they disapprove of her fantasies. The
monster (amusingly played by James Ortiz) is a big, purple, fluffy, clumsy, shy, Maurice
Sendak kind of guy, with large horns and long claws; he’s the kind of shy critter
who’s more afraid of his own shadow than anyone could be of him, making him
just the sort of fearsome thing that kids need to lovingly embrace if they’re
going to fall asleep at night.
Bobby, unlike any 8-year-olds I’ve ever known, wears a
bowtie and skinny jeans, while Granny is
unlike most grannys any kid seeing this show is likely to have met; she’s a
hot-looking, Joan Jett-type biker chick rocker in zebra-striped tights and a
black leather jacket. This is an innovation not in the original book, where
Granny is more conventional. But she belies her image by saying things that
ease Wanda’s anxieties and getting her eventually to bid her monster farewell. She
also opens the show with a medley of songs accompanied by two male backup
singers.
The show, presented by Making Books Sing, looks like
it’s built to travel. The set is sufficient to establish we’re in Wanda’s
bedroom, and the closet is a framework structure that can turn around so we can
watch the monster while he’s in it. The costumes are bright and cheerful
(although I wish the kids’ clothes looked more like what kids those ages really
wear), and the monster makes a big impression on the tots. So if you’ve got
a theatergoer in the making around, you might want to boogie him or her down to
see the monster on E. 15th Street.
