PINOCCHIO
November 24 to December 31
The Stirling Festival Theatre

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Christmas Recipe: 1 cup of Friends and Family¼ cup of Harmonious Laughter¼ cup of Uplifting Stories¼ cup of Charismatic Characters¼ cup of Motivating Music .

With the hussle and bussle of this time of year, we tend to forget some core essentials in the holiday season. With decorating, shopping, errands thrown into your work week, it’s extremely easy to do.

Luckily in one night or afternoon at the Stirling Festival Theatre’s production of Pinocchio, you can reestablish all of these elements and recollect on the way you might have remembered Christmas when you were younger, as a child perhaps and how you felt during the holiday season. Excitable, anxious, bursting with eagerness and innocence.

This is how I felt during a Sunday matinee of Pinocchio, Stirling’s freshest “perennial pandemonium-packed pantomime,”

Written, directed and choreographed by Caroline Smith the fairy tale introduces us to Geppetto, his witty sense of humor, Figaro his female feline companion and his oh so eager neighbor, Widow Cappuccino “MAMA MIA”. Once Geppetto, at the end of the evening, wishes on an evening star for his newest celebrated achievement to become a real boy our Blue Fairy enters. Not only does she possess sense of character but an incredible musical repertoire featuring the word “blue” in the lyrics. Every time she enters we learn of another!

As Pinocchio is blessed with string less mobility, he is assigned a conscience. Mr. Jiminy Cricket, one of the most famous fairy tale characters of all time.
As the original story goes, the moral upon adaptation stays alive. Pinocchio finds himself (despite Jiminy’s desperate attempt to save him) thrown into temptation (almost as many times as there are #1 hits by the Motown group) by not so Honest John Foulfellow “BOOOOOO” and Gideon the Mute, the charades master. Foulfellow is just as his name predicts and leads Pinocchio off the beaten path on the way to school and actually sells him to the infamous marionette master Stromboli. As he enters the world of theatre he soon learns how temptation can lead to disaster. And this of course isn’t the end of the escapades.

The chemistry and energy onstage was amazing. Totally consistent with every character and beats never missed. Energy as it was was contagious and as always Stirling Festival Theatre makes the audience feel invited, comfortable and involved.
Not only does this Pinocchio version contain local and modern lyrical wit, unforgettable puns followed by perfectly timed drum response and impeccable choreography, but also great audience interaction that draws you into the story forgetting about the Holiday stress you may have outside of the theatre, leaving you feeling unburdened, lighthearted and delightfully entertained. This is what theatre is all about. Well done…., and thank you!

Pinocchio runs November 24 to December 31 @ the Stirling Festival Theatre.