A Giant Peach of a Performance!

 

by Pa Rock

Proud Grandpa

(Milestone Alert: Today's blog posting is number 6,000 in what was meant to be only a temporary distraction when this effort began in November of 2007.  My thanks to all who have stopped by, commented, and shared ideas and even writing over the years.  Your involvement and support have kept this daily distraction going!   Pa Rock)

Yesterday evening I had the absolute pleasure of attending a superb musical theatre performance at the Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, Kansas.   The show, James and the Giant Peach, Jr, was a youth production of The Culture House School of Theatre of Olathe, Kansas, and it was under the direction of Chase Cashion.  The play was based on the work of acclaimed author Roald Dahl.

The Culture House, and in particular, Mr. Cashion, did yeoman's work in creating and pulling off this amazing production.   The cast, which included 19 named characters and a very active ensemble of 26 others, were all age twelve or younger, and even just managing that many exuberant young people would be a challenge that few brave souls would tackle - let alone lead them in a difficult and demanding theatrical endeavor.

But the director did it - and the kids did it - and the result was absolutely fantastic!  Young people, individually and in groups, danced across the stage like they had interned with the Rockettes, belted out songs in the manner of Ethel Merman in her heyday, spoke in cockney accents that would have made Eliza Doolittle feel right at home, and performed verbal and physical comedy as though they had grown up in the households of Carol Burnett or Lucille Ball.

There are just not enough superlatives to describe how very good this production of James and the Giant Peach, Jr  was - or is - because there are two more productions scheduled for today.

My granddaughter, Olive, who turned twelve earlier this month, plays one of the main characters, "Spider," and she, too, exhibited a wonderful stage presence as she sang, danced, and delivered her lines flawlessly and with just the right tenor.  (Of course you would expect Grandpa to say something like that, but it's true, dang it, it's true!). Great work, Olive!

I was literally stunned by how good this youth production of James and the Giant Peach, Jr was (is).  I have seen way too many professional musical theatre productions performed by adults which paled by comparison.

Great work, one and all!  

Bravo!