La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts kicks off its 2010-2011 Programs for Young Audiences series with Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences On Tour newest national touring production, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical. With music by Grammy Award winning composer Michael Silversher, six-time Emmy Award winning author/illustrator Mo Willems adapts his Caldecott Honor winning children's book Knuffle Bunny into a brand new family musical. Directed by Rosemary Newcott with choreography by Paige Hernandez. The production is recommended for children ages 4 and up. Performances are Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
In September, DC area theatres are filled with almost a dozen musical productions opening -- classics, family shows, and many wonderful plays being performed on our over 200 theatre venues. The humidity is finally melting away, and it's a perfect time to welcome the cooler weather and the colors of the Fall by making a trip to the Nation's Capital and catching a show or two or three. There are family shows with canines and rabbits, a Labor Day weekend theatre festival that's FREE, a new jazz musical with some of the area's most talented singers, and bugs and ants that swing on trapezes. Mr. Ripley is finally coming to town, while I'm hoping that all will be well at Shakespeare Theatre. Someone is trying to deal with a very troubling inch, a Bar-Mitzvah boy has to deal with his crazy family, spelling champions battle it out, and a beagle pilot takes flight. There's so much to choose from, so read on and see what's playing in September in this monumental town. Happy New Year to all my fellow Jewish lovers of the theatre!
How important then is this play - now onstage at Nashville Children's Theatre in a stunning production helmed by NCT producing director Scot Copeland - designed for younger audiences? Frankly, its impact is immeasurable, but it most certainly presents the story of young diarist Anne Frank in such a way that younger audiences should never be able to forget the Holocaust, nor should they ever question the reality of those dark days in the human experience.
Rehearsals are under way for the Nashville Children's Theatre production of The Diary of Anne Frank, the award-winning drama by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, opening January 19. Tia Shearer stars in the title role, with other characters played by Evelyn Blythe, Rona Carter, Jamie Farmer-Oneida, Henry Haggard, Peter Vann, Samuel Whited, Holly Wooten and Bobby Wyckoff.
