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A young piglet with a vivid imagination almost becomes dinner for a garlic-loving fox as Honolulu Theatre for Youth opens its 2000-01 season with an adaptation of William Steig's "The Amazing Bone." HTY’s ‘Bone’ tosses out
adventure and lessonsBy John Berger
Special to the Star-BulletinHermen Tesoro Jr. animates the large talking bone that helps the piglet, Pearl (Nara Springer), escape the fox. Catherine Gonzaga plays the fox and joins Tesoro and Louie Hung in playing several secondary characters.
Pearl dithers with her mother (Gonzaga) about getting ready for school. Out of the house and on her way at last, she finds the talking bone and the two new friends decide to go exploring, eventually outwitting a pair of bumbling bandits and meeting up with a tougher adversary, the fox.
"The Amazing Bone":
Repeats at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 30 and Oct. 7
at Leeward Community College Theatre.
Tickets: $10 adults, $7.50 for high school
and college students with valid I.D., and
$5 for keiki 3 to 12 and seniors
60 and older. Children under 2
admitted free with ticket.
At its best moments, this is engaging entertainment for kids "four and up." Kids in kindergarten or the low elementary grades will relate to an energetic and imaginative piglet who uses her bag as a martial arts weapon in imaginary battles.
What kid hasn't had an imaginary friend or a toy that was more than a just another stuffed animal? Kids and parents may notice that Mother Pig doesn't stifle her daughter's imagination.
HTY productions are almost always well-acted and "The Amazing Bone" is no exception. Springer makes an appealing piglet and the kids at a school performance yesterday quickly took to her.
The versatile Tesoro effectively animates the large "bone" puppet. Gonzaga displays her versatility as well with her portrayals of Pearl's loving mother and the fearsome, no-nonsense fox.
The pacing of the show proved a bit slow, however. The kids loved the slapstick interaction between Springer and the others, but many became restless when dialogue took precedence over action. They were enthralled by the goofiness of the ineffectual robbers, but the more subtle humor in Eric Schmiedl's adaptation of Steig's story will be better appreciated by parents.
On the other hand, none of the kids seemed fazed by Pearl's long and relatively grim imprisonment by the knife-wielding fox.
The sugar-coated lessons presented here include the value of friendship, the importance of teamwork, and the fact that it's a good idea to go to school like your mother tells you instead of playing hooky.
"I should have gone to school," Pearl sniffs as the fox sharpens a butcher knife and heats the oven. Kids, take a lesson!
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