"Wolf! Wolf!" the children cry, as the character in black leather, furry hands and feet and pointed teeth, sneaks in among the droll cardboard sheep with their movable heads. The boy who's been reluctantly guarding them hasn't noticed, never expecting to see a real wolf.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf at the Second Story Repertory theater in Redmond allows for plenty of audience participation, as most of the children choose to sit on the floor within a few feet of the performers. ("Please stay on the carpeted area so that the wolf doesn't get you," the stage director tells them at the beginning of the show. "And please clap at the end of each song.")
There are lots of bouncy songs in this performance of Aesop's fable about the bored boy who plays a practical joke on the villagers, repeatedly yelling for them to come because there's a wolf when there really isn't one. There's also a sub-plot about two twin sisters who are desperate to find a man – not particularly appropriate for the 4 to 7 age group, but the ladies are funny, so it works. The children's attention is held throughout the performance, although they get a little restless when there's too much moralizing about the importance of the young person guarding his reputation by being truthful.
My 6-year-old friend Logan enjoyed the show, and had these comments.
Funniest parts: When the lady went to chase the wolf, that wasn't really there, and came frantically back on stage with a bucket on her head, waving a shovel. The boy who played the lead part (12-year-old local stage veteran Jordan Harris, who had a mobile face and body to convey boredom, mischievousness and newfound responsibility).
Scary part: Not the wolf, surprisingly, but the mention of a false fire alarm the boy had called in, and the fact that a villager's chicken coop burned down because no one was there.
Boring part: Opening song (before the action started).
After the show, Logan and the others enjoyed meeting the characters and having their pictures taken with them – especially the wolf.
IF YOU GO
Where: Second Story Repertory theater, on the second floor at Redmond Town Center, near the Center Court and next to Borders Books, 16587 N.E. 74th St., Redmond. Free parking in the Central Parking Garage, behind Eddie Bauer and Starbucks.
When: March 4-20; Fridays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 1 and 4 p.m.
Admission: $10.
Contact: 425-881-6777; www.secondstoryrep.org.
Wenda Reed is a Bothell writer. Logan Jones is a Bothell resident, who, according to his mother, “is the one who often cries wolf at our house.”
