Well, I finally got to see the full up production of Captain Louie. As you may have read in my previous post, I had seen the reading at NYMF last year. I went with my producer (and friend) Michael Rubinoff so we were able to get comps! Yahoo!

What I didn't know was that this piece started over 20 years ago! One of the producers, Meridee Stein (who also directs it; her husband Anthony Stein adapted the original children's book The Trip by Ezra Jack Keats for the musical) had approached Steven Schwartz about writing a children's musical and he signed on.

In 1983/84, The Trip played in New York City and then at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2000 the creative team revisited the show and decided to expand it into an hour-long piece. New scenes and songs were added, as was a new character. The production was finally mounted at the York Theatre at Lexington and 54th. I found out that some of the original cast from 20 years ago have since grown up and brought their kids to see this production -- how cool is that?

Jimmy Dieffenbach plays Louie and is wonderful. I saw him at NYMF and some of the cast has changed but all are amazing young performers. The set, choreography and use of projections are charming. The music is extremely catchy and it's great to see a kid-targeted musical with sophisticated music and lyrics. But it's still loads of fun and extremely accessible. A delightful hour of theater!

BTW [ahem] -- My daughter Myrna would be perfect as Roberta/Mouse.

It closes today at the York Theatre and I’m not exactly sure where it is going next. It is a very urban musical and I think it would be great in a city like Toronto. I believe a certain producer friend of mine thinks so too...

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