Magic Tree House: The Musical

If your child is a fan of the Magic Tree House series of books: Did you know there is a Broadway-style musical production currently touring the country (now through May 2009)? My 6-year-old daughter and I saw a production recently and though the ticket prices aren't cheap (ours were $24 each) I think it's worth it to tie a memorable theatrical experience to book-reading. This would make a wonderful holiday or birthday gift as well.

We arrived at the performance with great anticipation (as a parent, I appreciated the early start time--6:30 p.m.). My daughter was very curious to learn which of the books would be interpreted on stage. As it turned out, the production offered a brand-new story that took protagonists Jack and Annie to the time of King Arthur's Camelot. There, the brother-sister team had to work together to restore magic and joy to the kingdom (after Arthur, despondent over the presumed loss of his son Galahad and two other knights, banned magic from his land).

My daughter was most looking forward to seeing what Jack and Annie looked like as "real people," and she wasn't disappointed. Like the set and other characters, we thought Jack and Annie were quite true to the text and illustrations found in the books. Katie Brunetto, playing Annie at the production we attended, had a lovely, compelling singing voice, but her squeaky, whiny speaking voice (she was trying too hard to sound like a kid) drove me crazy. It didn't bother my daughter at all, however. While she knew that the actors weren't kids, she was hard-pressed to call them adults either. ("Young adults, maybe?" she said, and yes, it sounded as funny coming out of her little mouth as you'd guess.) Seeing Morgan LeFay "in person" was another highlight, and Barbara Stolarik played her with just the right combination of strength and warmth.

Appearing alongside the actors were larger-than-life puppets portraying dinosaurs, dragons, residents of Camelot, and a heroic white stag. The dragons and stag were awesome in appearance and critical to the advancement of the plot; we loved them. The other puppets added little to the production and struck me as unnecessary and even a little odd (in the case of life-size human characters attached to the shoulders of live actors to make an awkward little trio).

Though my 6-year-old could not follow all the whos and whys of the plot, she was captivated by the performance. It held her attention long past bedtime and I have no doubt that we'll be inspired to read Magic Tree House titles for weeks to come.