Press.2.11.2020

ard/article_f72cc4de-4c23-11ea-a759-174d2c5eaf93.html

Review: Do let the Pigeon drive the touring musical at Charleston’s Gaillard by maura hogan mhogan@postandcourier.com feb 11, 2020

“Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!” presented by Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences on Tour, was co-written by author and illustrator Mo Willems working with his longtime collaborator Tom Warburton Jeremy Daniel/Provided

Anyone who spends a fair amount of time with young kids may have made acquaintance with a certain irrepressible, irresistible pigeon. He is the title character who drives the Pigeon children’s book series, a contemporary classic created by author and illustrator Mo Willems.

Since his launch in 2003, the whimsically rendered urban bird has roosted in the sweet spot of a beginning reader’s psyche. For starters, like its intended audience of 2- to 6-year-old children, Pigeon is focused on indulging his impulses, no matter how ill-advised they may be. These include the urge to drive a bus, bogart a hot dog and lay claim to a puppy.

Also of note is how Willems enlists these readers to mitigate the Pigeon’s pitch level of jonesing. They have been charged to forbid him from satisfying such inclinations with a loud, authoritative and frequent “No!” As the one-track bird implores, cajoles, reasons and resorts to full-on melt-downs, young kids are *nally empowered to turn the tables and, delightfully drunk with newfound power, dole out those “no’s.”

Such was the understanding when I entered the Charleston Gaillard Center with my husband and our daughter Beatrice, a *rst-grader and utter Pigeon-head, for “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!” We were primed for plenty of antics on both sides of the proscenium as be*ts both the Pigeon and his fan base.

The production, presented by Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences on Tour, was co-written by Willems working with his longtime collaborator Tom Warburton (executive producer of Disney Jr.’s “Muppet Babies”). It features a musical score, complete with emotional arc, by Deborah Wicks La Puma. stage + screen

Review: A 6-year-old weighs in on the feel-good fun of Charleston Stage’s ‘Elf’ by maura hogan mhogan@postandcourier.com

The Gaillard regularly brings in kids’ shows, and we have seen a few.

With touring productions fanning out through the country, they are an industry in and of themselves, o+ering families a pleasant activity that often leverages a child’s a+ection for certain characters. They also serve as a manageable introduction to staged productions, one that will hopefully continue through a child’s formative years and into adulthood.

These shows have run the gamut at the Gaillard. We saw a magical reimagining of Margaret Wise Brown’s “Goodnight, Moon” and “The Runaway Bunny” created by Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. There was “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Live,” a Trolley-centric, on-brand staging of the popular animated PBS series based on “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.”

5 Reasons to Start Building a Healthy Heart Today

Sponsored

We've all heard the statistic: the No. 1 leading cause of death in the United States is heart disease. But does anyone take that information to heart? [Sponsored]

The Gaillard also hosts groups of schoolchildren at local productions.

Last fall, I sat in, cross-legged, with a group of school kids on the Gaillard stage for “Sweetgrass Salt Marsh,” an utterly engaging immersion in Lowcountry ,ora and fauna created by Storytree Children’s Theatre.

And on Sunday there was Pigeon, felted in his trademark light blue and animated and singing at the hand of gray-garbed performer/puppeteer Sylvern Groomes Jr. The all-important bus, blown up and true to the bold-lined, amiable Willems illustrations, was centered in a paneled, square opening, hosting the usual Pigeon entourage, among them Duckling, Hot Dog Vendor, The Bus Driver and others.

Coming in on the slim side of 60 minutes, the show glides from one number to the next, as Pigeon asserts his rights and falls short of his desires. The songs are both jovial and palatable. The energetic, upbeat cast gamely sang on despite sound design, which at times delivered playback that muted the singers. Both score and story succeeded at holding the audience’s attention, a notoriously tough crowd in that regard, give or take a toddler trundling up the aisle.

In a humor-in,ected opening song, the Pigeon bemoans, “I never get to do anything,” with lines like “It’s all so insulting/Look, I started molting.”

In another upbeat number he insistently pleas, “Can I drive the bus?,” to which the cast delivers those celebrated no’s. A self-re,ective song about being broken *nds the Pigeon full of sorrow, mulling his frequently thwarted goals. news

Christmas pageant at Old St. Andrew’s Parish in West Ashley makes magic, and mayhem, too by maura hogan mhogan@postandcourier.com

What didn’t quite make it to the Gaillard stage was that fabulously rapscallion aspect of the Pigeon that so enthralls kids engaging with the books. It is as if someone sprinkled chamomile on his hot dog, and I suspect that someone was Willems himself.

I can’t help wondering, too, why the production chose not to make the show more participatory when it was such an ingenious part of the reading experience. It would no doubt have been a hit with squirming

kids, who would likely have jumped at the chance to tell that Pigeon to simmer down.

Perhaps a kinder, gentler, soul-searching Pigeon is more palatable to today’s parents than the character who *rst took o+ in 2003. While he does lob some funny quips, he is not quite the incorrigible hoot of the early bird. Still, a nice time was had by many a family, clipped wings notwithstanding. The Pigeon, it seems, abides.

Follow Maura Hogan on Twitter at @msmaurahogan. more information

Lowcountry Parent’s picks for family-friendly weekend events in Charleston: Feb. 14-16 Lowcountry Parent’s picks for family-friendly weekend events around Charleston: Feb. 21-23 tags

charleston children’s theater

charleston gaillard center

don’t let the pigeon drive the bus!

theater for children

disney jr.

goodnight, moon

margaret wise brown

mo willems

muppet babies

daniel tiger’s neighborhood

maura hogan Maura Hogan is the arts critic at The Post and Courier. She has previously written about arts, culture and lifestyle for The New York Times, Gourmet, Garden & Gun, among other publications.