After napping on a long drive to Glen Echo Park on a rainy day, it was time to wake up the Shark. The Shark is my 20 month old daughter who, like her namesake, seems to need constant movement in order to survive. I was apprehensive about waking her up too much, because our destination was Blueberries for Sal, a world premiere musical at Adventure Theater MTC based on the Caldecott Medal winning book of the same name. The last thing I needed in a show I was about to review was to chase a bored Shark through the audience.
Fortunately I needn’t have worried. Blueberries for Sal is a clever hour of theater that kept most of its kid-packed audience fairly attentive with more to interest the adults in the room than expected. Even the Shark, whose attention span barely lasts one song of the oft-requested Moana, sat still, with a few exception,s through the musical.
The plot expands on the already surprisingly hefty children’s book (55 pages and aimed at ages 3-7, while the show is “all ages”) that sees two pairs of mothers and children, one human and one ursine, lose each other while hunting for blueberries. The mothers wind up with each other’s child after they are distracted by birds, who teach Sal and Baby Bear some valuable lessons before they are reunited with their parents, changed by their adventures.
The musical ascribes base attitudes and corresponding lessons to the cast of four characters. Mama Bear is a relatively strict parent, and her child Baby Bear is as fearful of the world as can be. The humans are studies in contrast to the bears. Mama Bear is, as she says “frizzle-frazzled” and Sal is so in love with adventure that she tends to get ahead of herself, and her mother. “Ahs” of recognition came in response to many of Mama’s lines from the parents in the audience, including myself, as my Shark-chasing days often leave me pretty frizzle-frazzled.
The most attractive qualities in Blueberries for Sal for both parents and kids stem from the show’s remarkable design. The Shark, sitting on my lap in the natural way that toddlers have of making their parent’s legs fall instantly asleep, stirred with most excitement when entranced by designer Dre Moore’s puppetry. The cast finely articulated bird puppets during the lessons the children (both fictional and real) were taught: crows teaching Sal to be “caw-caw-cautious” and partridges illustrating bravery to Baby Bear by their willingness to try flying.
The puppets themselves are deceptively complex, using two points of control for their manipulators, combined with trigger mechanisms that provide extra wing manipulation. More than that, Moore works seamlessly with Jeannette Christensen’s costume design to reflect complicated fabric patterns that harmonize multiple textures and patterns into attractive cohesion.
The Shark’s favorite part was undoubtedly a two person over-the-head moose puppet, a clearly masterful show piece divorced from the plot but thrilling in its execution, both in construction and manipulation. “Moose?” “Moose?!?” “Moose!!!” called the Shark whenever it went off or she got bored. You know a design element is working in a Theater for Young Audiences show when a parent has to thwart their child’s multiple attempts to run offstage to chase that element down.
Other design elements were clearly geared more toward the parents, some for better, some worse. Alberto Segarra displayed frankly jaw-dropping lighting design. In a packed grid, with custom looks for the many moods of the play, Segarra accomplished the rare feat of lighting both the stage and the space above the stage (where the actors play) in equal measure, adding some extra tricks besides. When Baby Bear has a nightmare the gobo-textured light vibrates slightly, noticeable to someone looking for it, but smoothly enough that anyone not looking for it would merely feel the mood change. I’ve worked with lighting designers on dozens of productions and seen hundreds of shows, and I have no idea how he did it. It’s that good.
Bill Yanesh’s compositions form the backbone of Blueberries for Sal, and he is clearly talented in that department. Using rather delicate and complex harmonies that appealed to my adult sensibilities and rang unexpected in a children’s production, the songs show a pop of class that the parents seemed to appreciate. That appreciation wasn’t apparently shared by the younger members of the audience, which is understandable. This delicacy trades the poppy drive traditionally expected from a musical for something more refined, and, while something is gained, the pace of the show suffers for it.
Yanesh is also credited with book and lyrics, and I’m unsure of how that works with credited writers Sandra Eskin and Michael J. Bobbitt, since the book is traditionally composed of the lines between the songs. However that work was divided, the narrative structure of the play further slowed the pace of Blueberries for Sal, a dangerous prospect for a show meant for those who have a tough time sitting still.
The fundamental issue, which could be a result of too many cooks in the kitchen, is of repeated beats. I’m not talking musical beats, but textual beats, a technical theater term describing each consecutive bit of text that conveys new information or makes a change in the play. According to most script writers and their ilk, the beat is the basic building block of any theatrical production. What happens in Blueberries for Sal is that the beats that are strung together have a habit of not conveying new information or not seeing a change in any of the characters or the mood of the play. The play feels overlong as a result, and the lack of change ripens younger audience members for distraction, even if they don’t realize why. I understand the impulse, sometimes younger audiences require repetition to make the story and conditions of the narrative sink in. But it was easy to tell when the beats repeated too often because, in those moments, the Shark was more interested in the sticker on her shirt than what was happening onstage.
While this created some restlessness, Blueberries for Sal does a whole lot of enrapturing as well, and it is easy to recommend this show for all ages. This world premiere is likely to make its rounds throughout the country as a fine adaptation of a beloved book, and DC audiences are lucky to get a first shot at seeing it happen. And if it can keep the Shark’s attention, surely it will work for your little one.
Blueberries for Sal, written by Sandra Elskin and Michael J. Bobbitt. Book, Music, and Lyrics by William Yanesh. Directed by Jess Jung. Featuring Sarah Corey, Alex De Bard, Sophie Schulman, and Karen Vincent. Choreography by Sandra Atkinson . Scenic Design by Jessica Cancino . Costume Design by Jeannette Christensen . Lighting Design by Alberto Segarra . Sound Desgin by Neil McFadden . Props and Puppet Design by Andrea “Dre” Moore . Stage Management by Rebecca Talisman . Produced by Adventure Theatre MTC on co-commission with New York City’s Children’s Theatre. Reviewed by Alan Katz.
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