Review: DORY FANTASMAGORY at Imagination Stage

If you have a kid in elementary school, the wildly popular Dory Fantasmagory book series is likely on your radar. What you may not be aware of is there is a stage show based on the books. Recently, my son and I caught Dory Fantasmagory making its East Coast premiere. It was silly, funny, and, maybe most importantly, my five-year-old sat through the entire show and never once asked to even so much as go to the bathroom. Win!

It begins with a scene where Dory is doing some nighttime shadow puppets with her imaginary friend Mary. My son liked the puppets, and he liked even more that Dory and her friend engaged in some potty talk (specifically, a song about poop), which is never not funny, especially if you are a little boy.

The set is basically one piece with two sides- one is Dory’s bedroom, and one is the living room and the entire piece rotates around depending on what the scene is. It’s a creative way to change scenes, so credit to Scenic Designer Andrew R. Cohen and the rest of the Creative Team.

Dory is the youngest sibling whose older sister and brother think she’s annoying and won’t play with her, which is relatable if you have a sibling. The arguments that happen between the stage siblings are true to life and well portrayed by the actors. In speaking about the performers, the standouts for me were, of course, Dory (Victoria Gomez) and Mary (Irene Hamilton). Victoria’s high energy helped keep the young audience’s attention and her singing voice is great. Meanwhile, Irene is a fantastic physical comedian, a quality that an invisible playmate to a young girl with a huge imagination most certainly calls for.

I also must commend the entire cast for their improv skills. Imagination Stage (in Bethesda, MD) encourages audience participation and that means being able to react off the crowd, not knowing what a young child or two may think to yell out. This happened at the show we attended, and the actors reacted in a hilariously perfect way.

Kids are bound to love Dory Fantasmagory and although it is silly, parents will like it as well. The set is ever-changing, the actors deliver and, in the end, the story is about the relationships between family members that we can all relate to.

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