THEATER REVIEW - How I Became a Pirate
Swashbuckling musical light, playful
Saturday,  Oct. 24, 2009
Margaret Quamme
FOR THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

      How I Became a Pirate is a simple, satisfying musical, as breezy as an afternoon on the open ocean.
      The one-act by Alyn Cardarelli and Steve Goers is based on Melinda Long's picture book. In Columbus Children Theatre's production, however, young hero Jeremy Jacobs has been transformed into Jenny Jacobs.
      Feisty Jenny (Emily Cipriani) is building an elaborate sand castle when she is approached by five rambunctious pirates, who think her abilities might serve them well when it comes to burying treasure.
      Led by rough but tenderhearted Capt. Braid Beard (Scott Willis), they teach Jenny to talk like a pirate and, in turn, are taught to play shipboard soccer, enhanced with swordplay and other shenanigans.
      Conflict is provided by manipulative Stubby Barbossa (LaRon Lee Hudson), who serves as the ship's accountant because he can count to three.
      The play offers plenty of opportunity for audience interaction, with audience members roaring out a hearty "Arrrrgh" at every invitation.

Pictured L to R:  LaRon Lee Hudson as "Stubby Barbossa," Emily H. Cipirani as "Jenny Jacobs," and Scott Willis as "Captain Braid Beard."

      Cipriani conveys Jenny's enthusiasm without going overboard, and her clear, strong voice provides an effective counterpoint to the gruffer pirate vocalizations.
      The production's seven songs, backed by recorded music, are nautical and offer some surprisingly complex harmonies.
      The pirates interact with the gleeful abandon of 5-year-olds freed from parental supervision.
      Willis' Capt. Braid Beard moves with authority while keeping an eye on his back. Hudson's Barbossa is suave but not too frightening, and Kurt Barger's Jacque Latoe is light on his feet and eager to embrace Jenny's new teachings.
      As hypochondriac Wheezing Stephen McGee, Bruce Thompson brings out the "rrrr's" in all his ailments with wit, while Danielle Mann's Milt Skeeter bolts out snippets of musical-comedy numbers, despite her shipmates' admonition that "Pirates don't sing show tunes!"
      Director Nancy Shelton Williams keeps the slapstick under control and balances comedy with a warm sense of family relationships.
      Brightly colored and vividly patterned costumes contribute to the sense of fun. Swordplay, pistol-brandishing, threatened plank-walking, strobe-created lightning and loud thunder add just enough of a sense of menace to maintain the excitement.
      The show is best-suited for children 4 to 7, but older siblings might take secret pleasure in it as well. Its lighthearted spirit is refreshing.

Columbus Children’s Theatre’s ‘How I Became A Pirate’ continues Thursday and Friday at 7:30 pm,
Saturday at 1, 3 and 5pm and Sunday at 1 and 3 pm through November 8th.

Review of The Wizard of Oz
by Dennis Thompson
Theatre Roundtable Critic

      Been away from this reviewing thing for awhile but I think I remember how it works.  I sit out here and they do stuff on that stage up there and I write about it.
      But this place doesn’t look familiar and the people on stage are so small.  Am I that far away?
      No, it’s Columbus Children’s Theatre’s “The Wizard of Oz” and the small people up there are Munchkins, or rather children portraying Munchkins in one of the many delightful aspects of this production.
      And the place doesn’t look familiar as it’s my first venture into the restored Lincoln Theatre.  What beautiful work they did in the reconstruction.
      CCT is the one theatre where the children in the audience go “oooh” when the lights go down.  They are rewarded with an ‘Oz’ that is wondrous from beginning to end.
      It’s a musical without much music, only nine numbers but all the favorites.
      It creates a wonderful setting, Scenic Designer Carla Chaffin sets Kansas with a basically bare stage with a little corn on the side. There are times when the indication of corn clash with the ornate Egyptian/African symbols that are part of the Lincoln Theatre stage columns making it seem a cross between “The Lion King” and “Oklahoma”.  But the backdrops of the house and later Oz and Emerald City are massive and colorful.

Pictured (left to right) Jay Rittberger as “Tinman,” Michaella Cipriani as “Dorothy,” Len Williams as “The Cowardly Lion,” and Patrick Walters as “The Scarecrow"

      The players are just right, so reflective of the film without being imitation.  Still, the vocal tone of the players is so familiar.
      Take the Munchkins, played by children who don’t sound like children, but rather play it with the nasally Munchkin sound we all recognize.  They are all delightful, Connor Poulin as the Mayor in particular.
      The leads emulate the style, tone and rhythm of the film characters, but again, in a way that makes it familiar for the audience.
      Michaella Cipriani is charming as Dorothy with a beautiful voice, particularly on the signature “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Lynne Doyle and Roddey Nagy (who humorously doubles as an Emerald City flunky) are solid as Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.
            Dorothy’s companions are all great fun.  Patrick Walters brings the floppy physical grace to the Scarecrow, Jay Rittberger is the physically stiff but vulnerable Tin Man, and Len Williams is the boisterously timid Lion.  All are audience favorites and deservedly so.
      John Feather is kindly gruff as Professor Marvel and as…uh, that other guy.
      Both the good witch and the bad are exactly as we like, Brooke Andres’ sweetness as Glinda and Ginny Cipolla’s cackling Witch of the West. Dayton Duvall is fearsome as Tibia. Cipolla and Duvall’s makeup is astounding.
      There are many facets that amaze, not the least of which being that it’s a real Toto up there!  Sir Winston of Tallowood (couldn’t have just been ‘Scruffy”), a 14 year old Yorkshire terrier who is apparently no stranger to the role.  Remarkably, he sits still as Dorothy swings him around in a basket in front of a large audience and amidst the most hectic of scenes.
      There are directorial touches from William Goldsmith that flesh this out beautifully.  The faces of the Lollipop Guild that show they love their work, the visual picture as the Munchkins creep then pause.
      Perhaps most impressive is the synchronized Generals routine that opens Act II and particularly the effect of the mystical forest.
      At nearly 2 ½ hours it runs long for many of the children in the audience who emitted a constant hum throughout the evening and several were seen crawling all over their parents near the end. There are ways it could have been shortened.
      Perhaps it’s from lack of familiarity, but it seems the two numbers that were not included in the movie could have been eliminated. “Jitterbug” displays an energetic, acrobatic group of Jitterbugs but adds nothing to the story. “Evening Star” seems more like a slumber party gab session between Judy and some girls from Emerald City.  Maybe one fewer dash through the forest.
      But this is a magical production that is wondrous throughout.  It’s a cliché, I know, but it truly is great fun for the whole family.

        Performances were in the Lincoln Theatre, 769 East Long Street.