If you want to warm up a chilly winter day, or if the kids are complaining that there is nothing to do, get Marooned With Munsch.


The New West Theatre for young audiences presentation of the popular children’s stories is a fun, high energy and funny hour-long show that follows four children separated from their parents on a tropical island, with only a box full of props, four Munsch books  and their imaginations to keep them from worrying about being rescued.



The four actors, Cari Russell, Willie Banfield, Geneviève Paré and New West general manager Jeremy Mason, laugh, joke, mug for the ‘imaginary’ audience and flip and roll all over the stage and hang from tree branches, as the children act out the Munsch books and get the audience involved with the show.

Many of the children sat on the floor right next to the stage.
 

In fact Mason, Banfield and Russell tap into their elder child  while Paré does a great job of portraying a child trying to be an adult.
Tommy’s (played by Mason)  ‘silly ideas’ are hilarious and imaginative,  including a good one about building a time machine out of sand and using it to go back in time and remembering bring food and water for the stranded  children. By the end of the show, the ‘silly ideas’ underly  the “don’t make fun ” theme that runs throughout  the stories.

Marooned with Munsch provides a welcome return to the stage for New West Theatre General Manager Jeremy Mason.
New West Theatre’s popular Christmas season production of author Robert Munsch’s  popular children’s stories kicks off on Boxing Day and runs until Jan. 8.

“Theatre for Young Audiences is  one of my passions. And it made sense to do this one because Glitz and Munsch have staggered openings, so there was more time to do this,” said Mason who was last on stage with  a TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) show in 2008. They have been rehearsing since Dec. 12.

“I definitely love being on stage,” Mason continued, adding he and artistic director Nicholas Hanson wrote this story about a group of children who get separated from their parents and  become marooned on an island.

“They  are trying to find things to make an SOS with and find a treasure chest with five Robert Munsch books and some costume pieces,”  described director Andy Jenkins, who is enjoying directing his third Munsch production with New West.

“They imagine the audience for their show,” he continued.
“We wanted to choose some of the more popular Munsch stories and ones we haven’t done before,” Mason said adding the stories include ‘I Have To Go,’ about a little boy who has to pee; ‘Show and Tell,’ about a boy who brings his baby sister to school for show and tell; and  Stephanie’s Ponytail, about a girl who keeps changing her hairstyle, and is alternately mocked, then copied, though she gets the last laugh in the end.

“It’s great to run around and be a kid again while being surrounded by a group of professional actors,” Mason continued.
That is a sentiment shared by New West newcomer Cari Russell.

 Steady crowds are celebrating the Christmas season with New West Theatre’s latest gala production of Glitz.
As promised Glitz includes performances of a lot of tried and true popular favourites, so the show is familiar, though enjoyable, pure, mindless escapist fun. And with the cast lighting up the room with their big, beaming smiles throughout, it was tough not to enjoy it.
 Even though I’m relatively new to covering New West Theatre, even I can remember hearing Erica Hunt and Scott Carpenter performing their  sexy, seductive and funny version of ‘You Can Leave Your Hat On,’ ending with Erica taking off Carpenter’s hat and being shocked by his bald head.

 They eased into the show after a subdued version of Loverboy’s ‘Working For The Weekend,’ during which the band could barely be heard.

After that, they introduced the show with an affable exchange between Scott Carpenter and  Erica Hunt about Carpenter mixing up the name of the show with rhymes for Glitz and actually coming up with some good ideas for New West shows, including  Brits (featuring hits of Britain), Grits (hits of the south,) and Zits (teen pop hits).

 As per usual, the comedy made this show for me, especially the bits that accompany some of the songs, like “Eye of the Tiger,” which kicked off the show after a hilarious routine about Jay Whitehead accidentally putting on Scott Carpenter’s underwear, which devolves into a mohawked Carpenter coming through the crowd in a colourful boxing robe and challenging Whitehead to a Rocky style boxing match. Just for kicks, I’d love to see them perform an all comedy show. But there is something for everyone in this show, lots of excellent dancing, singing and hilarity.