Now Showing : The Gingerbread Man

It is an open secret that The Wacky Duo love musicals. We had been to more musicals than movies for the past year. A live show that promotes audience participation would usually beat the static nature of a movie. When attending musicals for kids, we look forward to fancy costumes, catchy songs, cute dances and colourful stages.

Having been to the fantastic The Ant and the Grasshopper a year back, we had high expectation for our sophomore experience with iTheatre - The Gingerbread Man. Performing at the cosy Jubilee Hall, our first impression from the entrance added to the anticipation of the show.

The Story
The tale began with the Story Teller who decided to tell the story of 'A recipe for disaster'.
Once upon a time there was a Little Old Woman and a (not so)Little Old Man. They were childless and wanted a child of their own. One day, they decided to make a gingerbread child to sweeten their day.
But the Little Old man (Bert) was REALLY not good at following instructions, missing essential ingredients and adding his own … What a recipe for disaster!

Somehow they managed to make The Gingerbread Man, but Bert broke the rules again and brought the Gingerbread Man out before it was baked. It came alive and started running. It run from the old couple, it ran from the horse, it ran from the cow,it ran from cat , it ran from the duck , it ran from the dog and finally it met the witty fox.

What happens at the end of the show is a sweet treat. We are not going to tell you how it ended, so check out the show to see the fate of The Gingerbread Man.

The Gingerbread man

The Performance
With catchy tunes, fancy costumes and colourful props, you would expect The Gingerbread Man to be a hit amongst the kids. Given that this is the third time The Gingerbread Man returns to our shores , we expected a polished performance from the cast. The performance on that day was not as stellar as expected.

The lack of pacing was perhaps the undoing of a potentially captivating performance. It was almost halfway into the show until the main star - The Gingerbread Man showed itself. The buildup to the appearance could be a tad long and given a child's short attention span, it might be it's Achilles heel. Given the show's running theme, it had a surprisingly slow start.

Audience participation was encouraged during the show. From helping the story teller to find the book to warning Bert from taking the Gingerbread Man out from the oven, the little audience were screaming their lungs out. No doubt the little ones enjoyed the show. However given its pace, we think this show is more suitable for preschool children instead of 3-13 as suggested.

If you are bringing your children along to see their first musical this coming June holidays, The Gingerbread Man would fit the bill as a good introduction to local musical productions. As veterans of children musicals, we think seasoned musical audience may find this production needs more time in the oven to be fully bake.

The Little Details
The Gingerbread Ma is now showing at Jubilee Hall.
20 May - 7 June
Get your tickets here.

The Gingerbread Man @ Jubilee Hall

Disclaimer
The Wacky Duo were invited for a media preview. All opinions are of our own