Theater News

A Trip to Madagascar

April’s kid-friendly shows include Madagascar Live!, Awesome Allie, First Kid Astronaut, Odd Day Rain, Barrio Grrrl! A New Musical, Cirque Mechanics’ Boom Town, Potato Needs a Bath, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, and Madeline and the Bad Hat.

A scene from Madagascar Live!
(© Carol Rosegg)
A scene from Madagascar Live!
(© Carol Rosegg)

It’s a zoo over at Radio City Music Hall, where Madagascar Live! (April 15-24) is taking over the world-famous stage. Based on the delightful Dreamworks film, the show follows native New Yorkers Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, and Gloria the Hippo as they venture from their home at the Central Park Zoo to Africa. Will they be able to survive living in the wilderness where their ancestors thrived? Find out at this live action adventure full of original songs, lots of humor, and larger-than-life animals.

Blast off into space with a visit to Awesome Allie, First Kid Astronaut (through April 26), presented by Vital Theatre Company. Directed by Jeremy Dobrish and featuring a book by Scott Elmegreen and songs by Drew Fornarola, the kid-friendly tuner is about a girl and her talking dog traversing the solar system on a mission to save Earth. See the stars, learn about science, and enjoy a few great tunes along the way.

The TADA! Theater presents Odd Day Rain (April 15 – May 22), the world premiere of a new rock musical created by Deirdre Broderick and Janine Nina Trevens. Take a trip to 2211, where Aurora and Claire are on an adventure to discover what is real and what is not in their technology-controlled world. The show is recommended for ages 5 to 105.

Finally, a superhero for all the strong chicas out there! Written by Quiara Alegria Hudes of In the Heights fame and Bill Sherman of PBS’s new Electric Company, Barrio Grrrl! A New Musical (April 16) is a funny and warm tale about nine-year-old Ana and her titular alter-ego. Spirited and tough, Ana loves bringing justice to her neighborhood in the guise of her superheroic creation, but she discovers that it may be more important for her to make a difference in real life by just being herself.

At the New Victory Theater, the Old West is alive and newly re-imagined in Cirque Mechanics’ Boom Town (April 8-24), an ingenious extravaganza full of wacky characters, crazy contraptions, and amazing acrobatics. Also at the New Vic is Potato Needs a Bath (April 8-24), a pageant of produce that tots will totally dig. Puppet master Shona Reppe tells the tale of a birthday party where Eggplant, Plum, and Pears gather, but muddy Potato can’t join in the fun till he gets a bath.

Things are looking Grimm at Lehman College’s Lovinger Theater in the Bronx, where Hansel and Gretel (April 3) sing, dance, and juggle their way in and out of trouble as they encounter a deceitful witch and her delicious gingerbread house. In other fairy tale news, the clever dwarf Rumpelstiltskin (April 9 – May 1) is at the National Comedy Theatre, helping a miller and his daughter spin straw into gold … but at what price?

Children’s heroine Madeline comes to the Center for the Arts at the College of Staten Island in the musical Madeline and the Bad Hat (April 3), based on the book by Ludwig Bemelmans. The story finds Madeline at odds with her rude neighbor Pepito, but when Pepito gets in trouble, Madeline helps him get out of it and the two find friendship at last.