This Saturday was a doozy. We headed downtown to Northwest Children’s Theater (NWCTS) for their current production- The Jungle Book. This show happened to have a Girl Scouts workshop associated with it, and Chicken was excited to participate.
Chicken has attended a few of the Girl Scout workshops and has always had a fabulous time. For $22, the kids get to participate in an hour long workshop, a supervised lunch break, and watch the show together. In this case, the girls worked together to develop and perform dances related to the show. They also often get to see backstage or visit the costume or prop area. Chicken is always excited to share some new secret insider information with us. We definitely recommend them to any Girl Scouts out there!
But back to the show. After dropping Chicken off, Nugget thoroughly beat me at a game of chess while we waited for his best buddy to arrive and watch the show with us. We timed it perfectly, settling into our seats minutes before the show started.
The Jungle Book is another of Northwest Children’s Theater’s collaborations with the Anita Menon of the Anjali School of Dance. They work together to retell classic stories through dance, music, and theater.
The Jungle Book is a familiar story to many, and this collaboration provides some fun new twists. Mowgli and Bagheera are both played by females. Each animal group has its own distinctive style of dance and costuming, and the snake Kaa performs some pretty incredible aerial stunts. Shere Khan is portrayed by Andres Alcala, one of our absolute favorite NWCTS actors, and he was definitely the star of this show. And as an added treat, mango lassis and samosas are sold during intermission. Yum!
As we have always seen with these collaborative productions, the music, dancing, and costumes are above and beyond. The boys (Chicken was off with the Girl Scouts) excitedly whispered and giggled throughout the show, intrigued by the dances and finding humor in Shere Khan. The production is very dance heavy, and while it is beautiful, there were times that the time between action or dialogue seemed to lose some of the younger audience members.
After the show, we took some time to meet the cast, get pictures, and have our programs signed. The cast always makes this such a fun experience. I saw cast members taking the time to show dance moves to young audience members, ask questions, and take time to chat with each child. This is always a highlight of our NWCTS experience.
The Jungle Book:
What it’s not: a fast moving pace throughout the whole show, as funny as some of the shows we have seen there
What it is: colorful, full of amazing music and dance, a unique blend of theater and traditional Indian dance, a manageable length for most school aged children
Do we recommend it? Yes! While it was not our favorite show we have seen at NWCTS, it is a fun and unique show that is worth seeing.
The run time for this show is about 2 hours, with an intermission half way through. Try some of the special snacks! They were delicious!
The show runs through March 7th and tickets can be purchased here:
Adventures with Chicken and Nugget 