Socks Appeal

This month, Theaterworks USA will treat audiences to a stage adaptation of Nancy McArthur’s The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks (July 16-August 22) at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. When ten-year-old Norman can’t stand his brother Michael’s cleanliness issues, he sends away for some, “Amazing Beans.” When those bean grow into huge plants with a hunger for the boys’ socks, they have to conceal their botanical secret from the rest of the kids in the neighborhood.

The Midtown Children’s Musical Theatre Festival will showcase three new musicals for kids of all ages at the Producers Club. The musical fare will include In Swak! (July 9-20) about a Frog Prince who can’t seem to stop turning princesses into frogs; The True Colors of Weedle (July 23-August 3) about a boy born without any color in a faraway land of kaleidoscope colors; and Rapunzarella White…a Dysfunctional Family Fairytale (August 6-17), another fractured fairytale where Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Snow White are triplets stolen from their queen mother by an angry witch and placed in their respective fairytales to be rescued by a pack of bumbling Prince Charmings.

For a taste for classical literature, Classic Stage Company will present a unique re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest with Tempest Tossed (July 10-20). Created under the auspices of The Continuum Company, a new alumni wing of New York University’s Graduate Acting Program, this piece will make use of a three person cast for a 90 minute rendition of the piece, with enough excitement and wonder for the whole family.

For everyone who likes to dance, choreographer Juliana Lira will take part in the Fresh Fruit Festival with Dylan Wants to Dance (July 26) at The Algonquin Theatre Company, a story about a little boy, his love for dancing, and the stereotype barriers he will have to cross to follow his dreams. TADA! Theater will mount a piece that might help parents take a trip back to carefree school days full of quizzes, math problems, report cards, and even crushes with Everything About a Day (Almost) (July 10-August 2).

Youth on Target will mount a re-imagined look at Cinderella (July 19-July 27) at the Bushwick Starr in Brooklyn. In this version, a reclusive Cinderella, still troubled by the death of her father, needs help from her Fairy Godmother to overcome her obstacles and attend the ball. In Park Slope Brooklyn, Puppetworks will present their hand puppet version of Jack & the Beanstalk (July 5-August 24), which will run side-by-side with a marionette production of Pinocchio (June 28-July 27).