to see Twas the Night Before Christmas

On November 22nd I went to see Ken Ludwig's "Twas the Night Before Christmas" at Emerald City Theatre Directed by my favorite Artistic Director Jacqueline Stone, I went with mommy and Margot. The play was about a kid named Emily (played by Kirra Silver) and her friend mouse named Amos the funny mouse (played by Alejandro Tey) who saved Christmas.

 It started when Uncle Brierly (Darren Hill) was reading Twas the Night Before Christmas and he said it was his favorite poem but when he got to the part "not a creature was stirring not even a mouse" Amos came out from his little house and he was stirring cookie dough to make cookies for Santa. And when he got to the part "while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads" Amos had the pigeon from "Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" and was dancing with it because he thought Uncle Brierly said "while pigeons and sugar plums danced in their heads" which was so funny. And when Uncle Brierly left they did a dance party and then they saw a girl in the window who came into the house. The girl turned out to be a Jewish Elf named Calliope (played by Nora Lise Ulrey) from Santa's Workshop and she took them on an adventure on a plane to the North Pole where they found out that all the elves were locked in a dungeon by Sir Guy (also played by Darren Hill). Sir Guy wanted to sell the Naughty and Nice list so he could be in charge of Santa's workshop. But Calliope, Emily, Amos and Amos from Kansas found a way to save Christmas.  And Santa (played by Anthony Whitaker) gave Emily and Amos medals for saving Christmas.

The set designed William Boles was very creative. I loved how it seemed like there was just one thing on the stage, Uncle Brierly's house, but then all these little doors opened up and it transformed into Santa's Workshop. I love love loved the props designed by Letitia Guillaud especially the giant yummy candies and the amazing airplane that they flew in to get to the North Pole. I also liked the costumes designed by Rachel M. Sypniewski especially the mouse ears and tail on both Amos and Amos from Kansas.

My two favorite parts were: 1. when Amos was like "Ahhhhhh who's that? What's that?" and Emily was like "The stage Crew" and Amos said "The stage crew! Ahhhh!" and 2. When Amos said "When is this plane going to land?" and Emily said: "Amos the plane already landed you're the one still spinning."

This play taught me that the best gifts don't come in packages they come from being present and having fun.

I give this play One hundred thousand, million, billion, zillion to the infinity points because it was just so fun and funny.  And I think every animal and every person and everything in the whole wide world should see this play because it is the best play I have ever seen in my entire life.

Love,
Gunnar

to see Mother Goose's Garden

On June 10th I saw a play called Mother Goose's Garden at Emerald City Theatre with Margot and Mommy. The play was directed by my favorite Emerald City director, Jacqueline Stone. When we went into the Garden it was not like any other show I have seen before.
There was no stage, we got to be IN the play and we got a basket of objects so we could be a part of the play. I thought that was really weird but I really liked it because I got to talk to the characters and be a part of the play.

The characters were Jack and Jill, Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue, Mother Goose, the cow and the sheep.  Michele Stine played Jill, Little Bo Peep and Mother Goose, and Austin Ryan Hunt played Jack and Little Boy Blue. My favorite character part was when Jill made Jack play Little Miss Muffet because when he saw the spider he got so
silly scared and went "spider? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" and ran everywhere but kind of quiet and silly. I also liked Little Bo Peep when she said "Oh Beaureguard there you are" in a southern accent, that made me laugh, that's a silly name for a sheep.

The set, designed by Brian Elston, was so colorful it looked like a garden. There were a lot of colorful flowers and a vegetable garden and berry trees. The berry trees could move and we got to pick berries off of them.  And when we watered the flowers with the watering cans from our baskets the set actually made them grow taller! I also love the sound, designed by Jeffrey Levin, because when the trees moved they sounded like an ice cream truck.

My favorite parts were when we got to be a part of the show. Margot and I got to put hay in the cows mouth, brush sheep's wool, water the plants, plant the seeds, shovel a hole and pick the berries.

Again, everybody in the whole wide world should see this show because then they'll know how to plant a beautiful Garden!

I give this play 1 MILLION and 99 points. That's the biggest number I can think of...because this show is AWESOME!!!

Love,
Gunnar

to see The Snowy Day at Emerald City Theatre

On Saturday I got to see The Snowy Day and other stories by Ezra Jack Keats, adapted for the stage by Jerome Hairston. I saw it with mommy, daddy and Margot. It was at Emerald City Theatre and the Director was Jacqueline Stone. This was the 100th production at Emerald City...that's a lot of shows!

The play was about a boy named Peter played by Terry Bell. The characters were Peter (Terry Bell) Mom/Female player (Sydney Charles), Amy/Female Player (Kirra Silver) and Dad/Archie/Male Player (Felix Mayes).

The stories they performed by Ezra Jack Keats were: The Snowy Day, Whistle for Willie, Goggles and A Letter for Amy.  My favorite story was Goggles because it was so cool when they found goggles and pretended they were astronauts, that was my favorite part of the whole play. After the play there was a bookstore and mommy and daddy bought me the book Goggles and I wish I could read it to you right now, but you should look for it at the library.

I loved the white parachute that represented snow. When they lifted it up it look like a blanket of snow and light shined through it. The lighting design, by Rachel Levy, was very colorful. The lights helped make shadows behind the snow and rain. The shadows they showed were: Willie (the dog), a tree, a parrot, a snow angel, a snowman and Peter doing things, like -brushing his tongue. The shadows were a really good idea for how to tell the story.

The costume design by Branimira Ivanova was so cool because the snowsuit looked exactly like the one from The Snowy Day, and the flower shirt and the rocket ship shirt looked just like the shirts from Goggles.  I also liked the set, designed by Martin Andrew, it looked like giant wooden blocks that you use to build castles.

One of my favorite parts was when Peter would slide down the snow slope and he kept saying "Again! Again! Again!" That part reminded me of when my sister Margot (she's 2 years old) goes down the slide, she always says that too!

One thing I learned from the show was, whenever you write a letter to someone, you should really hold on tight to your letter when you're carrying it to the mailbox...so that it doesn't fly away. Oh and don't bump into people when you're going to the mailbox either.

Everybody in the whole wide world should see this show because it's so much fun and based on stories you can read and buy or checkout from the library.

I give this show 2,095 points because it's the

... BEST SHOW EVER!!!!
Love,
Gunnar

to Junie B. Jones in...Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!

Today I went to see Junie B. Jones in....Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (Adapted by Barbara Park) at Emerald City Theatre, directed Jacqueline Stone. I went with Mommy, Margot and Daddy.

The play was about Junie B. Jones. And Junie B. Jones is very funny, she's in first grade. Elizabeth Stenholt plays Junie B. Jones and she is a really good actor because it was really good to see her be like Junie B. Jones and I know a lot about Junie B. Jones because I read the book Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Allison Gregory and I read it all by myself.  One thing about Junie B. Jones is that she doesn't like it when people forget her B.

In the play May forgot Junie's B. May called her just Junie Jones and that made Junie B. angry. Junie B. spends the whole play fighting with May.  Junie B. Jones has a hard time following rules and May likes to follow the rules and that's why they don't get along. I'm kind of like May because I like to follow rules. May was played by Jaclyn Hennell and I really like her as an actress because I've seen her before in the Nutcracker.

The other characters in the play were Jose and Mr. Toot (played by Johann George), Lucille and Elf Ellen (played by Kaitlyn Griggs), Mr. Scary (played by Darren Hill), Herb (played by Aaron Lawson), and Sheldon (played by Jerome Riley Jr.) I liked all of the characters they were excellent actors and very funny.

The lights (designed by Keith Parham) were blue and pretty and my favorite light was the Rudolph nose that was always glowing. The costumes (designed by Katherin Pavlovna Goldberg) were all really cool and colorful, my favorite costume piece was the purple glasses on Junie B. Jones. The sounds (designed by Jeffrey Levin) were really loud and totally awesome. The best sound EVER was the BURP!!!!!!!!!! All the BURPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Set was designed by William Boles, I know his work because he designed Hotel Cassiopeia and Jabari Dreams of Freedom (two other plays I've reviewed) the set was very very cool and amazing and astonishing! It looked like the whole classroom but everything was gigantic big! I loved the desks because they were so colorful, I wish they had desks that colorful in room 112 in Kindergarten.

My favorite part was the BURP!!!!!! I also really liked the slow motion parts like when May was singing Frosty the Snowman really slow and when Sheldon got spat on and fell down really really slow and then he was freaking out because he couldn't swim but there wasn't really any water it was just paper. There were so many slow motion parts and they were the funniest, especially the sounds!!

Everyone in the whole wide world should see this show because they will learn about Junie B. Jones and how to be a giver and a friend.

I give this play 100 Points because it was soooooo good and "wowie wow wow"!!!!

LOVE, 

Gunnar

Margot, "Herb", Me and "Junie B. Jones"

Me and "May" (look at my cool Elf hat!)

I can't wait to Read my new Junie B. Jones Book!

Margot, "Sheldon", "Jose" and Me!