Review: FRECKLEFACE STRAWBERRY THE MUSICAL at Adventure Theatre MTC

The third production of Adventure Theatre MTC’s 25/26 season Freckleface Strawberry The Musical keeps up the company’s winning streak with a show that features a stellar cast, a good message, superb direction, and more.

Freckleface Strawberry The Musical is based on the books written by actress Julianne Moore and illustrated by LeLlyen Pham.  The books might also be familiar to you because they are a NY Times Bestselling banned book.

Strawberry (Lily Burka) is a seven-year-old girl with red hair and freckles who is constantly teased because of her appearance. It gets so bad that she starts to wear a mask to class. There is even a moment when her freckles come to life  matoke their plea for her not to get rid of them after she tries several methods. This results in a great and hilarious ensemble musical number called “Freckle Mafia”.

Her classmates include Danny (Kaylen Morgan) who is obsessed with basketball, Emily (Chelsea Majors) who is in love with Danny Jane (Julia Link) who is really into books, Harry (James B. Mernin) who is the rudest of the bunch, and the class nerd Jake (Dylan Toms. There is also a character named Ballet Girl (Julia Klavens) who Strawberry ends up having a bond with because she has a need to be perfect accepted.

The book is written by Gary Kupper who also wrote the songs and Rose Caiola who also conceived the show for the stage.

Director Shanara Gabrielle has staged the show with plenty of heart and honesty. There is a fine line between making this type of material preachy and engaging and Gabrielle certainly rose to the challenge.

Jennifer Hopkins choreography is full of energy and gives the cast a full workout to be sure. Numbers like “Look at Me”, “When You Got Friends”, and “I Can Be Anything” are prime examples.

Musical Director Elisa Rosman has once again shown why she is one of the most talented MDs in town. Her vocal work throughout is not surprisingly top notch and makes one wonder why the larger theatres in town don’t employ her services.

Lilly Burka as Strawberry carries the show and is totally endearing while doing so. You really want her to be accepted by all. Her vocals on “I Hate Freckles” are just one example of this.

Julia Klavens as Ballet Girl gives a touching performance as someone I think we all can identify with. Her duet with Burka is entitled appropriately “Perfect” and is one of the most moving moments in the show.

Chelsea Majors as Emily gives a powerhouse performance with her big song called “I Like Danny”. Her spunkiness is something to behold.

Kaylen Morgan has a star turn in “Basketball” that deserves thunderous applause to be sure.

Dylan Toms, Julia Link, and James B. Mernin round out this excellent cast. They all play multiple characters and none of them are alike. This is what happens when you hire top talent.

Megan Holden’s great set makes perfect use of Adventure Theatre’s stage space. The set even includes an upper platform for a bed.

Lynn Joslin’s lighting is full of color that really makes the songs and action pop.

Paris Francesca’s costumes include everything from Strawberry’s signature wardrobe to life size freckles. What more could you possibly need.

I don’t know who created the pre recorded music track for this show, but the choice to go basically with a rhythm section sound over bad midi effects was very welcome to my ears.

Freckleface Strawberry The Musical at Adventure Theatre MTC has pretty much everything you could want in a Theatre for Young Audiences musical. This show, however, transcends age because in the end, we ALL need to remember that kindness and acceptance go a very long way.

Running Time: 60 minutes with no intermission.

Freckleface Strawberry The Musical runs trough March 29,2026 at Adventure Theatre MTC which is located at 7300 MacArthur Blvd Glen Echo, MD.

Photo credit:  L-R James B. Mernin, Chelsea Majors, Julia Link, Lily Burka, Dylan Toms, Kaylen Morgan, and Julia Klavens in Adventure Theatre MTC's production of Freckleface Strawberry The Musical.