Seattle's Child

Your guide to a kid-friendly city

SCT presents Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical

Attention Dav Pilkey fans, here's a musical you don't want to miss

Seattle Children’s Theatre kicks off its 50th anniversary season with “Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical”, a follow-up to last year’s much-loved opener, “Dog Man: The Musical”. Currently running through October 27, this production is yet another potty-mouthed romp through the delightfully subversive mind of author Dav Pilkey, whose series “Dog Man” and “Captain Underpants” have become classics for a new generation of readers.

Synopsis

Flippy the cyborg fish from “Dog Man: The Musical” is back, but instead of commanding an army of Beasty Buildings, he’s adopted a pond full of rambunctious baby frogs who, in the production’s chaotic opening number, are revealed as 21 telekinetic tadpoles poised to destroy the world. Luckily, Cat Kid (Janna Linae) is on the prowl. She’s a feline superhero determined to save every creature, big or small. She also has an antidote to rid the polliwogs of their evil ways, transforming them from swarming megalomaniacs into cooperative little pupils.

Needing structure and discipline to keep the young ones away from the path of diabolical destruction, Cat Kid and Flippy partner up to teach their small wards how to use their imaginations and channel their energy into something positive like creating their own comic books. The ideas range from ludicrous – a “Cute, Little Fluffy Cloud of Death” haiku sung by the lisp-ridden mild-mannered Poppy (Savannah Trotter) – to totally preposterous – “Dennis the Toothbrush Lawyer for Dinosaurs” by know-it-all Melvin (Jeremy Fuentes). All are told in varying musical styles, from rock ballads to rap to bluegrass.

Sister Naomi (Diamond Destiny) and her brother Melvin can’t help but bicker their way through the class in the show’s best and often funniest moments. As the juvenile frogs continue to carousel through their many silly and often bathroom-inspired ideas for comic book stories, their creative vision and artistic ingenuity will take audiences down the most unexpected avenues and will encourage viewers to explore the caverns of their own imagination.

Lessons for All Polliwogs

Though gallows humor and potty talk may have infiltrated this production from start to finish, there are notable underlying themes and lessons in “Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical” that are sure to seep through to impressionable viewers. For one, Naomi confronts Melvin about the fact that Flippy is much harder on her than he is on her brother, a subtle, but moving subplot that poignantly expresses sexism and favoritism.

Parents will get a kick out of the many parenting jokes sprinkled throughout the production. Melvin and Naomi’s competitive, antagonistic relationship mirror many backseat brawls between siblings, and Flippy’s exasperation at his newly adopted 21 children is very relatable to the chaperones in the audience.

The production also takes an interesting interlude to explain “perspective.” It’s a big word with an even bigger, more complex meaning, but “Cat Kid” takes significant time and energy to describe, clearly and explicitly, the importance of perspective for its smallest listeners. It is imperative for the littlest of our community to understand that the world does not revolve solely around them. Just like on the stage before them with the goofy tadpoles at the musical’s heart, the world is filled with diverse points of view.

No Stress on Short Attention Spans

The series’ creator Pilkey has been very vocal over the years about how his ADHD and dyslexia diagnoses have only aided, not hindered, the creation of his comics. He’s harnessed them into superpowers of his own. As such, the hyper-active tadpoles often can’t sit still or won’t stop bickering amongst themselves throughout the play’s runtime, though they are only nurtured and encouraged by their caretakers, Flippy and Cat Kid, to channel their high energy into their imaginations.

The play, at only 60 minutes, moves at a fast paced and never lingers on one scene or one song for very long. There is no time to get bored because sequences are short. Jokes are hit promptly. The production design is filled with colorful costumes, bright set pieces and elements that are both functional and eye-catching, including the smartly contrived tadpoles. A handful are portrayed by real people while the rest are 2D wooden stage props that the actors can move as needed.

My daughter absolutely adored “Dog Man: The Musical” when it came through SCT last season. It was the one show she talked about for months after. Her enthusiasm for “Cat Kid Comic Club” did not match that for “Dog Man”, even directly after leaving the theater. While she did laugh at jokes here and there, this production did not elicit the belly laugh that “Dog Man” frequently pulled out of her.

But when is a sequel ever better than the original? It helped to have seen “Dog Man,” but it is by no means a prerequisite for enjoying this production. “Cat Kid Comic Club” had enough hard-hitting jokes, endearing characters and positive messages to appease both mother and child.

Know before you go

• The show runs through October 27, with a variety of showtimes spanning the morning and evening.
• Runtime is approximately 60 minutes without an intermission.
• The ASL Interpreted Performance is Saturday, October 19 at 1:30 p.m.
• The Access/Audio Described Performance is Saturday, October 27 at 2:30 p.m.
• The Sensory Sensitive Performance is Sunday, October 20 at 11:00 a.m.
• Seattle Children’s Theatre is located at 201 Thomas Street, Seattle 98109
• Garage and street parking are available with payment. Give yourself ample time if there is an event at Climate Pledge Arena.
• Seattle Children’s Theatre is running at full capacity.

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About the Author

Candice McMillan

Candice McMillan has been writing about film for more than 10 years. Since becoming a mom to her two daughters, she’s had to hang up her affinity for horror films, catering to the two smallest critics who prefer shows about rescue dogs and a family of pigs. Candice has degrees in journalism and film critical studies from USC, and her favorite children’s film is a toss-up between “Anastasia” and “A Goofy Movie.”