Oh, bother! There’s a rumbly in my tumbly and there’s something I’m supposed to do! Ooh— think, think, think, think! Hmm. Maybe if I have just a little something…aah, yes. Just a little something— some hunny, perhaps? Oh! Oh, that’s it. I’m supposed to tell you that you should venture out to the Hundred Acre Woods this weekend! Yes! Oh yes, yes, yes, that’s it! To the Hundred Acre Woods for a very lively, very charming Christmas show! It’s Small Town Stars Theatre Company’s Christmas show, as a matter of fact and they are so excited to welcome you one of their new playing spaces— Synergy Space Dance Studio— for their very own performance of Winnie-the-Pooh Christmas Tail. Directed by Elizabeth Vinson, this adorable little holiday production is the perfect way to jumpstart your Christmas season and like that classic song says, it’s perfect for kids from one to 92 (well…maybe more like three or four years of age…you do still have to sit for approximately 60 minutes with good theatre behavior.) It’s engaging and whimsical, perfectly charming and delightful— and even if you’re a childless cat lady, like me, you’ll find it just absolutely warms the heart like a nice, rich cup of hot cocoa on a cold, snowy winter’s night!
Elizabeth Vinson and her team (AD Aubrie Dell’Agnese who doubles as the choreographer, SM Delaney Goodwin, and MD Roman Adolfs) run a gloriously tight ship. A show designed for young audiences needs to move but not so quickly that you can’t understand what’s happening and also be presented in a way that really snags the audiences’ attention. Vinson has achieved exactly that with this production. There are cute sound-effects— compliments of Dagny Beavers— like when Eeyore goes looking for his own missing tail and you get a silly little slide-whistle to accompany his movements. The whole package is just precious and perfect. And it’s a musical sing-a-long. There are moments when the audience is invited to sing along with the characters on stage and it’s just the perfect way to keep those younger audience members feeling like this show is just for them.
Vinson, Dell’Agnese, and Goodwin come together as the show’s Costume Designers (with alterations assisted by Rory Long) and they are just so stinking cute! Going along in the vein of ‘Disney-bounding’ with a little bit extra, you get the complete picture that all of your favorite characters— everyone from Tigger to Owl, Piglet to Eeyore, and of course everyone’s favorite honey-loving-bear— are ready to have an extraordinary day in the Hundred Acre Woods. Many of the cast-members have face paint to help augment their costumes but the simplicity is what makes it so lovely. Tigger is wearing bright orange sneakers and an orange pair of overalls. Eeyore is in full blue denims. Nearly everyone has ears. Owl looks like a swotty professor, all puffed up in tweeds and browns. But my personal favorite is Penny Possum (credited rather as Vocalist, Cecelia Boynton) because she’s wearing a cardigan that has all of these amazing crocheted possums attached to the back— like she’s the Momma Possum and they’re her babies!
The costumes are adorable, oh bother, I’ve said that word at least twice already, but when it’s true… at any rate. The costumes are enchanting and whimsical and the perfect balance of costume-suggestion to character ratio. And if you think the costumes are perfect, you’ll marvel at the very old-world nostalgia approach created by Tim Beavers (assisted in the storybook artistry department by Dagny Beavers) in the show’s Set Design. Owl’s tree house, Eeyore’s stick hut, it’s all there. All of the fond memories from A.A. Milne’s cherished childhood books. And Cindy Beavers lends her artistry to the production with those beautiful props— the ‘Hunny’ pot (spelled with the backwards N looking almost as if she dipped her hand into the original illustrated storybook and pulled the thing straight out of the pages!) And possibly the most creatively clever prop I’ve seen in recent stage history— Eeyore’s Honey Christmas Cake! It’s a three-tier, rectangular, white cake…that Christopher Robin has to write Eeyore’s name on in pink icing! Beavers has made the top surface of the cake out of a white board. And she’s cleverly hidden a pink dry-erase marker inside a white icing piping bag! When Christopher Robin goes to write on the cake— it really is theatrical magic (suspension of disbelief) at it’s finest!
There’s even some dancing in this production! What would a good Christmas Tail be without dancing? Aubrie Dell’Agnese keeps the moves simple and clean. Assisted by her dance captains Cecelia Boynton and James Miller, you get a lot of link-arm slide steps and some fun, simple turns. But my oh my does Dell’Agnese pull out all the stops with a hard-soft-tap shoe routine for Owl’s song. Featuring Kyle Secula as the proudly pontificating Owl and two Woodland Creature Ensemble Dancers (Boynton and Miller) you get the cutest little three-person tap routine that is just aces for this show.
Speaking of the ensemble…you have Aubrey Gooche, Creighton O’Hara, James Miller, and Ronni Synder who are precious and precocious. Each dressed like a Woodland animal (so that they can double up as Rabbit’s friends and relations…though please don’t ask me to spell that the way Rabbit and Christopher Robin do!) these four get to run around in a lot of the songs, carrying props, adding little dances, and their lovely voices to the show! Cecelia Boynton should be added into the mix and she also starts the show off, introducing herself as Penny Possum and getting the audience all ready for a truly magical trip into the Hundred Acre Woods.
While you don’t see too much of Kanga (Oliva Ward) and Little Roo (Taryn Harrell), when they hop onto the scene, they’re just as adorable (…oh bother, I’ve done it again…must be time for a little something…maybe some more hunny…) as all the other storybook characters. Ward has a patter-run song where she sings all about the wonderful things that her little Roo does and Harrell, who spends most of the show being hushed and shushed by mum Kanga, has facial expressions for days that just tickles the audience with glee.
The aforementioned Owl (Kyle Secula) does have his big tap number and one of several actors in the show who really put on a big show of adapting his voice to that of the character. Sounding stuffy, polished, professorial, and all-around eju-ma-kated, Secula’s Owl is just a delight, especially when he starts talking all about his new bell-pull! And his singing voice is glorious, even with the simple and humorous number that he turns into a tap routine.
Charles Martin is our truly stuffy bunny, no pun intended, as he plays Rabbit. Dressed with that argyle sweater vest, looking very business-like, Martin marches his way through his big number and his glaring and withering looks— often being shot at Pooh (and honestly, anyone else who annoys him) are priceless. They’re on-point for Rabbit and he’s exactly how I remember Rabbit being in those early cartoons and movies.
Stealing the hearts of the audience with a flawlessly charming, gently affected, British accent, Archer Ketter is Christopher Robin. (Whoever did that boy’s freckles deserves an award in makeup artistry; they’re the perfect blend of adorable and authentic!) With a dulcet voice that’s just sublime to listen to, Ketter really embodies the kind nature of Christopher Robin and his enthusiasm is balanced against practicality. There isn’t a whole lot of depth happening in this show (it is a children’s tale of merriment and how to be a good friend at Christmas, which is a deep learning lesson in an of itself) but Ketter has found a way to make Christopher Robin feel real, like he has dimensions beyond the pages of his storybook; it’s very impressive.
I’m completely torn over a front-runner for my favorite. Eeyore (Jules Barrett) who is so depressing you just want to give him the biggest hug in the whole wide world is like a sparkly blue gem of sorrow, who does eventually have his spirits lifted! Barrett is so lovely in this role, being mopey and sad but also aware of trying to be a little less so. And he sings so pretty— especially in that one friendship-duet with Piglet near the end. Speaking of, Mae Ruby, as the nervous, stammering adorable pink pig (…oh bother, there’s that word again…maybe someone should ask Christopher Robin to give me a thesaurus for Christmas…) will make you grin and giggle. The way she embodies the ‘fear of everything’ trope that accompanies Piglet wherever the little pig goes is spot-on. And when Ruby does this mid-air spin-twirl thing? It’s like watching gymnastic-Olympics, Hundred Acre Woods Edition. It’s wild! The innocence with which these two performers play their two characters is truly wonderful and it harkens back to a simpler time, to childhood memories of happy Christmases.
Winnie the Pooh (Andrew Lyon) and Tigger (Will Brown) too are my absolute two favorites and for completely different reasons! Will Brown will take your breath away in this role. No, seriously, watching him fling, flip, bounce, trounce, hop, skip, and— what I’m going to call “pushup-barrel-log-roll-walking”– is enough to make you breathless as you watch him exude indefatigable energy. And he does it without breaking a sweat, missing a word, or losing all of that high-strung bounciness. Brown’s slight vocal lisp and overall affectation could earn him official membership to the Tigger Society (if that’s not a thing, it should be) and he’s just so animated! And his singing voice is absolutely glorious too! Playing the polar opposite, Andrew Lyon is the roly-poly befuddled bear from everyone’s childhood. Lyon’s vocal imitation of Pooh is so close to that of Sterling Holloway that I was about to run and congratulate Sound Designer Dagny Beavers on flawlessly syncing and dubbing the sound! Lyon has the cadence, patois, and timing of Winnie-the-Pooh down with that adorable sound spot on, especially when he sings. Watching him grin at the hunny pot, squinch up his face in a desperate attempt to think and concentrate, and talk to all of his Hundred Acre pals with such compassion just makes your heart sing. He’s an excellent Pooh Bear!
It may sound overly sentimental, but given all that’s going on in the world right now, this little Christmas show is so cute, so perfect, so warm and charming, so… oh bother, here it comes again… ADORABLE…that you won’t want to miss it this Christmas season. It’s the perfect present to yourself, to your young friends and family, to anyone you know who could use a little cheering up this holiday season. Three more performance this weekend; don’t miss them!
Running Time: Approximately 60 minutes with no intermission
Winnie-The-Pooh Christmas Tail plays December 13th 14th & 15th with Small Town Stars Theatre Company at the Synergy Space Dance Studio— 519 Old Westminster Pike in Westminster, MD. Tickets are available at the door or in advance online.
