Should the mice in “Frederick,” the rather sweet new musical at the Chicago Children’s Theatre, ever decide to turn tail and move to Chicago, they will be ahead of the civic game.
A good deal of the action in this adaptation of the much-loved, bedtime-friendly book by Leo Lionni deals with the mouse community’s frantic preparations for the coming winter. The mice are thinking about the storing of nuts and berries, but a few minutes into the show Friday night at the Ruth Page Theatre, I was thinking maybe better shoes and perhaps my first snowblower, last year having been ill-prepared and easily kicked in the teeth.
Of course, if you have offspring (or offspring of offspring) who fall into the target demographic of this work (I’d say roughly 4 to 8 years old), you’ll already know that the titular rodent, who has a tendency to daydream, has a preparation in mind that goes beyond such routine thoughts that arrive during October in Chicago. He may seem like a bum, but Frederick understands that winter sustenance has many dimensions, all of which must be tended. And I speak not of furniture in parking places.
Kids tend to come at the arts through play — and may think that artists thus inhabit a state of perpetual leisure. “Frederick” teaches that people do not live by nuts and berries alone, but need cultural warmth. Providing such a crucial aspect of cold-weather sustenance, Frederick and his cohorts come to see, is work. A job. A contribution to the whole. Politicians can learn from Frederick.
The rest of us can just enjoy this very charming and poignant 70-minute show, the book adapted for the stage by Suzanne Miller and enjoying a world premiere at Chicago Children’s Theatre.
The late Lionni’s simple story — wherein the biggest dramatic tensions revolve around nothing more scary than the turning of the seasons — has been given a roots-flavored score by Sarah Durkee and Paul Jacobs, which the director, Stuart Carden, keys into very nicely, evoking a kind of “Grapes of Wrath” of mice on John Musial’s set. Well, minus the starvation.
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“Frederick” is acted with dignity by the warm-centered mice-cast of Sophie Grimm, Emily Casey, Christine Bunuan (as an especially droll Baby) and Shawn Pfautsch, led by Richard Juarez as Frederick, the mouse who has a remarkably sophisticated understanding of what it means to be human.
Everybody plays instruments and sings. Durkee and Jacobs have penned some stellar ditties; many are moving. The show treats the mouse’s lot with great dignity, although it still made me further afeared of the coming winter.
The tickets are not cheap, alas, but it’s a classy show. My Friday night at the theater was greatly enhanced by a small but loud voice toward the back of the house that announced the arrival of everything she could see with great and infectious excitement. Perhaps we’ll check back with this youthful improviser in a few years. We’ll see how she feels about snow then.
Twitter@ChrisJonesTrib
When: Through Nov. 16
Where: Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.
Running time: 70 minutes
Tickets: $28-$38 at 872-222-9555 or chicagochildrenstheatre.org