Review: NOT YOUR MOTHER'S GOOSE! at Adventure Theatre MTC

Adventure Theatre MTC continues it’s rise back to it's former artistic greatness with the world premiere of Not Your Mother’s Goose!. Written by ATMTC’S former artistic director Michael J. Bobbitt and Sandra Eskin the show takes us on a non- Sondheimian journey to Gooseville for a romp with Mother Goose and some of your favorite nursery rhyme characters. HUZZAH!!!

Not all is well in Gooseville on the day of the 100th annual Peter Pumpkin Eater Harvest Festival. Itsy (You know, itsy bitsy spider played by Irene Hamilton) has tempted Hickory the mouse (Ryan Sellers) with some timberdoodle cheese to keep him from doing his job of running up the clock at the top of each hour. Why has she done this you ask? Because if time stops, the rain won’t come down her drain pipe and wash her out. Itsy is selfish wouldn’t you say? Hickory takes the temptation and right away things go sideways. Time gets totally messed up as the sun appears at night and a night star appears during the day. To make matters worse, Mother Goose (Martina Schabron) has lost her rhymes, Jack (Walker Vlahos) can’t find his sister Jill, and Mary (Hannah Taylor) is looking for her lamb that’s white as snow. That’s the set up. Take your family to see the outcome.

A true stand out of the production is the physical design by Megan Holden. She somehow manages to get a full clocktower with moving parts onto the smallish stage at ATMTC while leaving plenty of space for director Serge Seiden to keep the action moving at a farcical pace throughout.

Performance wise the cast is at the top of their game without exception.

Martina Schabron’s Mother Goose truly anchors the other characters while serving as the story’s overseer.

Irene Hamilton as the complex spider Itsy gives a big and wonderful performance to a character that’s the size of a needle.

Hannah Taylor makes an endearing Mary as does Walker Vlahos’ Jack.

Ryan Sellers as Hickory keeps up his winning streak of fine performances all over the DMV.

Chelsea Majors as a village Gooseviller and more makes the most of her limited stage time.

Michael J. Bobbitt and Sandra Eskin have combined many of your most familiar nursery rhymes into an original story with lots of wit and humor. I’ve always said Bobbitt did plenty for Theatre For Young Audiences while he was at ATMTC so it’s so fantastic to have him back as one of the writers on this show.

Adventure Theatre does not have an age recommendation on Not Your Mother’s Goose! But there are two sections that might scare itsy bitsy audience members if not warned beforehand.

Not Your Mother’s Goose! at Adventure Theatre MTC will reaffirm that Theatre for Young Audiences can be for everyone. Go “Into the park and down the dell and make a left at the carousel” and check it out.

Running Time: 55 minutes with no intermission.

Not Your Mother’s Goose! runs through November 2nd, 2025, at Adventure Theatre MTC which is located at 7300 MacArthur Blvd in Glen Echo, MD.

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