Goodnight Moon, The Musical
Book, Music and Lyrics: Chad Henry after Margaret Wise Brown
At: Chicago Children’s Theatre at Victory
Gardens Biograph Theater,
2433 N. Lincoln Ave.
Tickets: 773-871-3000; $26-$36
Runs through: Dec. 23
Walk Two Moons
Playwright: Tom Arvetis from Sharon Creech
At: Adventure Stage Chicago,
1012 N. Noble St.
Phone: 773-342-4141; $12-$20
Runs through: Dec. 3
There are two children’s play adaptations based upon acclaimed books with the word “moon” in their titles currently playing in Chicago. But don’t let the plays’ target demographic scare you away from going, for both works should appeal to adult theatergoers as much as they will for the little ones.
Goodnight Moon is a much beloved children’s book from the 1940s by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clement Hurd. No doubt traditionalists will be aghast at how composer/lyricist Chad Henry has expanded this sweet, albeit staid, bedtime story into a brassy and special effects-filled 65-minute musical.
As produced by Chicago Children’s Theatre at the Victory Gardens Biograph Theater, Goodnight Moon comes off like an extended episode of Pee Wee’s Playhouse mixed with the grownup sarcasm of the adults-only bedtime book Go the Fuck to Sleep (note that there is no profanity in this production).
You see, Alex Goodrich’s multi-talented and very imaginative Bunny just will not go to sleep. But who could blame him when there are so many dizzying distractions in designers Jacqueline and Richard Penrod’s amazing set that skillfully brings Hurd’s book illustrations to vivid life (the applause the set receives when first revealed is whole-heartedly earned).
Director David Kersnar has a wild time with Goodrich and his fellow cast mates Sara Sevigny, Becky Poole and Aaron Holland, who each play Mother Goose characters and the book’s illustrated inhabitants with plenty of razzle-dazzle gusto and savvy asides directed at the adults in the audience.
Adults should also appreciate Adventure Stage Chicago’s Walk Two Moons, which is based upon Sharon Creech’s Newbery Medal-winning novel.
Walk Two Moons is unflinching when it comes to heavy issues like the abandonment by a parent and the death of a close relative. Rather than shield kids from these topics, Creech and play adaptor Tom Arvetis find an entertaining and melodramatically empathizing way of bringing these difficult issues to the fore.
Arvetis is mostly successful with his adaptation, which is wonderfully performed by a fine acting company taking on multiple roles under Matthew Reeder’s astute direction. Yet there times when Creech’s multi-plot novel sometimes gets the better of Arvetis and things like the mysterious notes go unexplained.
Yet Walk Two Moons will undoubtedly spur conversation between parents and kids, and hopefully make them feel closer together when they inevitably have to face up to some of the difficult issues touched upon in Walk Two Moons.
So shine on with Goodnight Moon and Walk Two Moons. Both shows illustrate why children’s theater need not be limited to kid’s stuff.