If you’re looking for a bright and friendly way to introduce your child to theatre, look no further than South Coast Repertory’s Pinocchio. This musical storytelling of the naive puppet who longs to be a real boy is non-threatening, incredibly interactive, and intended for children ages four and up.

When the curtain rises we see an unadorned –save for some plain scaffolds –colorless set.  A stagehand comes out and starts cleaning, apparently unaware of the audience’s presence.  Once he notices us, he insists he’s just cleaning up, there is no show to be seen, and offhandedly asks what play are we here for anyway?  The audience responds in a chorus of “PINOCCHIO!!!” and the shock of it all just about knocks our goofy stagehand over.  When his fellow crew members appear, they discuss the problem briefly and decide the best thing to do is to tell us the story  themselves.  After donning colorful costumes out of a trunk, that’s exactly what they do, periodically asking the audience for advice and pointed questions designed to keep everyone on the same page.

It is a perfectly harmless, cheery way to introduce your youngster to theatre. The lights dim to draw focus to the stage but doesn’t cut completely to black to prevent total darkness from alarming anyone.  There are some problems for Pinocchio to overcome, but they are mostly instances of sadness rather than fear, and they are counter-balanced with plenty of jokes.  For the purpose of this review I borrowed a seven-year old from a friend, and she responded to the show quite well. When Pinocchio was tied dejectedly to a tree my young guest murmured “Poor Pinocchio,” and then seconds later was she laughing madly at the Blue Fairy’s antics in rescuing him.   When the crew members danced and ran crazily around the stage, she laughed and cheered, and whenever questions were asked, she shouted the answers out with the rest of the kids.  The actors are friendly and engaging, going out of their way to make kids comfortable during and after the show (don’t forget to get your youngster’s picture taken with the whole cast afterwards!), and they manage to get a lot of laughter out of the kids.

Of course this isn’t terribly exciting for adults, but that isn’t the point.  This isn’t Annie, Beauty and the Beast, or The Lion King. This is just a fun and interactive experience for kids who want to interact with actors onstage.  Once you have that idea down, just go in, snap some photos of the kids, and get ready for some peals of laughter.

– Alina Mae Wilson

The South Coast Repertory Theatre has a wonderful theatrical children’s program that brings classic tales to life with an amazing ensemble of performers. “Pinocchio” is their latest addition. This fun, funny and colorful version was written for the stage by Greg Banks. And, of course, is based on the original Carlo Collodi’s original masterpiece which was originally written back in 1883 in the children’s novel ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’. This whimsical, audience interactive play with characters that literally come to life as they ask the audience (the kids) to help them out.

You know the classic tale of course, but, what makes it fun for the adults is it’s all bookended by these ‘stage hands’ trying to set up a set for a play that is moving in. You see nothing but tall scaffolding – like painters use – and their all over the stage. All the while you the audience are thinking you are going to see “Pinocchio”. Well it’s a hysterical ‘foolie’ as they say – ‘well, since we have an audience, we can tell them the story. And with minimal set, costumes and lots of music, color and great performers you’re on your way to learn about the wooden boy who wanted to be real.

Directed by Jeremy Aluma, who used a wonderful ensemble of performers and the use of poignant stage lighting, shadow puppetry and wonderful use of this creative scaffolding to keep the kids and adults on their toes with music, gags, acrobatics, puppetry and more!

Joe Desoto is Pinocchio. He truly captured the wonder and excitement of a wooden puppet who wanted to be real. He had the physicality and I especially loved his looks of innocence, confusion and eventual concern for his papa! Joe has some wonderful improvisational moments with the kids too and they just ate him up!

Kevin Klein – Geppetto and one of the most hysterical Fairies you’ll see on a harness. As pretty much the stage hand who leads this stage crew in the beginning, he takes on many characters and does a wonderful job as the caring and loving papa Geppetto. But his version of the ‘blue fairy’ will have you laughing out loud!

Jennifer Carroll is Cricket and of course always sprinkling words of wisdom, but when she became the sly Fox she was having a ball. Interacting with the kids and keeping her ‘slyness’ sharp you can’t help but laugh at this characters mishaps.

David Honigman is the Policeman and musician and a very nervously funny burglarizing cat. David is very physical with his role and with all the characters he plays it’s his expressions that sell the show. He’s fun and always attentive to the other characters and especially the kids in the audience.

Tyler Bremer is the Bookseller and Lampwick and many more. He’s so much fun to watch as his light-hearted quirkiness makes for some very funny moments. His donkey impression is especially fun and has some nice charming moments with Pinocchio as well.

Fred Kinney did an amazing and creative thing with his set design – he used scaffolding! Yes it was utilized with slides, strip lighting and a unique shadow box that made for some funny shadowbox puppetry.

Leah Piehl did the very creative costume designing and used a great visual style to create nicely surrealistic costumes for the cast. Along with the incredible use of spot, strobe and mood lighting which was designed by Francois-Pierre Couture it made for a wonderfully sharp smart and kid and adult friendly experience. Complete with strip lighting.

South Coast Repertory’s production of “Pinocchio” is simple family fun for everyone. The kids are going to love it and participate in it, while the company put some very clever quips and puns that will definitely make the adults laugh too. Children’s theatre is so much fun when a company likes this gets so wonderfully creative and imaginative like they did here.

– Lorenzo Marchessi