Ada's Contribution to the St. Crispin's Day Closing Night Puppet Show

Review of the Parts of Strawdog Theatre's St. Crispin's Day that Ada's Parents Would Let Her See

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called St. Crispin's Day. I didn't really see the whole show because it was a little bit scary.

There was a bird that one of the villains played by Tom liked to hold but it wasn't actually real. I thought that was hilarious. I didn't see all of the characters because it was too scary. Carm was hilarious. They said if you are Irish then do a jig. Then they did a jig. Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.

And they chased Kyle but not for real and they threw rocks and mud. The rock one was even scarier than the mud. Make sure with your kids that they already know they are just pretending.

They wanted to kidnap my dad but not really. It was a really stupid plan—well it wasn't stupid but it wouldn't work.

Part of their costumes were supposed to be chain mail. It was really just yarn. I liked how it felt. The costumes were very cool. But I didn't get to see all of them. One of them looked like a guy from a church. And he was the guy who played Yepihodov.

There was a scene where the girls throwed flowers and carried a flag when the king was coming through which was my dad. He didn't have a very big part. It was daytime and they switched to day and nighttime. I don't know how they did that but I think they just did something like up and down and then it will go night and day.

The music that they played when it was about to start it sounded like—I can't really describe it to you guys. A little bit of horn but a little bit softer and drums. Boom ba boom boom boom. A-unh.

In one scene, dad was in disguise as just a Englishman. But they didn't realize it was the king and they got taken away to jail. Kyle, he mostly talked to Dad and listened very carefully. And that was all that scene was almost about—listening. The villains were saying that Kyle wasn't good (but just for pretend). They were selfish (but just for pretend).

Any grown-up can go see St. Crispin's Day. Well maybe a 5-yr-old could see parts of it. Good-bye, guys. See you some other time!

Review of Redmoon's Last of My Species

Once I went to a Redmoon show and it was very good.

The story was like they telled the story while something else was happening---there was not much talking. When they were talking they were not telling the story and when they weren't talking they were telling the story. It was a story about love. They did every acrobat bit together, so I knew they were in love.

The music was very dramatic. They sang. Some of it was quiet and some of it was loud. I liked how the drums were all made out of cardboard but they just made a sound that sounded like a real drum but they were not real drums. But they put music when they banged on it that made it sound like a real drum.

I liked all the acrobats. I liked Nate. Rani was very nice to everyone. I liked her when she sang. Scary was the part where they were hanging off the crane. Some of the acts made me want to laugh. Every part made me want to laugh except the part when they were hanging off. The announcer was sometimes nice and sometimes mean.

I really liked the masks because they were cool. They had to hold up them instead of just put them on with rubber bands. There were monkeys and skulls and people. First they were different people and then they got to be all the same person. Actually they were babies; they all got to be babies. The costumes were very swishy—the very beginning girl dress. I liked the costumes that Laarna wore. My favorite was the one she wore at the very beginning. The dresses and the outfits were beautiful. Someone who was the ensemble wore a hat and she let me try it on. The hat was very warm and was thread.

I didn't like when the lights went out as much as the rest. I liked it but not as much as the rest.

I got to climb on everything at the end of the show. It was very fun. The swing that went up and up and up and the swing that went down and down and down--those were the same thing. There was a big moon and we got to climb on it.

I love plays. It is my favorite thing to do and also playing and movies. See you some other time. Bu-bye.

Review of Love's Labour's Lost, Lakeside Shakespeare Company

Once I went to a play and it was called Love's Labour's Lost by Shakespeare. There was a princess in it which was the greatest part of all. She was clever. Everything was great. Moth was funny—really really funny. He was the funniest page in the whole play. He was clever. A woman played a boy which was kind of great—because I have only seen a woman play a boy in Kabuki before. I thought that everybody did a good job. Moth copied Don Armado; it was hilarious.

Don Armado was funny because of the way that he bowed to the woman—Jaquenetta—in a funny way. He was kind of Irish in the play—because he talked Irish. He seemed dramatic and happy. He was loud and quiet—sometimes he talked more melodramatic. Sometimes he didn't talk so melodramatic. How he talked was funny for the whole audience.

The Three Worthies was hilarious. Don Armado was going to tell a story and was also going to do a play. Moth played Hercules. He banged too long on a stuffed animal so then Don Armado had to stop him. Costard was hilarious. The way that he talked: like he is like "oh this is not good, this is good, this is not good."

Maria and Rosaline they were kind of like the princess. I liked how they pretended they were the other person's woman. I really liked that because it was funny—not in a mean funny way. In a nice funny way. The guy who was kind of their servant said stuff that other people had already said, and that was funny.

The King and his friends were funny. Longaville was funny because of the way he read the letters. The King was funny because of the way that he talked to the people that were going to stay with him. The King talks to his friends: "Don't stay with girls, don't go with them or stay with them or do anything with them." Berowne was funny because of the way of the way he talked to the King and Longaville. Then he made the rule that the king did.

I liked the costumes—all of them were pretty. The ladies' dresses: one was red, one was green, and one was black. Maybe they chose those colors because they were the costume designer's favorite colors. Don Armado's costume was funny. It seemed like it took place two minutes ago, not in Shakespeare's time. The director did a good job.

Everybody should come see this play. It is great because of the characters. Good-bye! See you some other time!

Review of Mary Poppins at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. June 10, 2009

I went to a show and it was called Mary Poppins. I was thinking it was going to be just like the movie, but it wasn't. And it was a very strange version of Mary Poppins because she came back after the intermission. A new nanny came and that new nanny was very rude—just the kind that the father wanted. "Let's Go Fly a Kite" was in the middle. And none of the nannies that came to the house to be the children's nanny flew away in the wind. There was instead of penguins there were statues in "It's a jolly holiday with Mary, no wonder that its Mary that we love. When Mary holds your hand you feel so grand, your heart starts beatin' like a big brass band—baaaa!" Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious also came at a different place. It was danced differently. They made letters with their bodies.

My favorite part was when Bert made a kite for Jane and Michael. Bert was a funny character. And also very kind. And also very fun. "Chim Chim-in-ey Chim Chim Cher-oo" was a very fun thing to listen to. (That rhymes!) Bert walked on top of the wall in "Step in Time." How did he do it? He tap danced too. He was upside down on the wall which was very cool but I don't know how he did it.

Mary Poppins is a very kind nanny—kinder than the father wanted. The actress that played her must be very nice. Her singing was very pretty. She was pretty and very funny and also spunky and nice.

Jane and Michael were mean at first, then they turned nice. They loved their mother but they didn't love their father then because he was choosing a nanny they didn't like. They flew a kite with Bert and the Police Officer and they danced with a statue. They learned how to be nice and so did the father. I think the actors did a really good job—all of the actors. All of the actors did a really, really, really good job.

I thought the singing and dancing were awesome. "Practically Perfect" and "Brimstone and Treacle" were very good songs. And also the toy one—"Temper, Temper."

Everybody should come see Mary Poppins. And that is all I want to say. Good bye!

Review of Dirty Sock Funtime Band at Ravinia, June 13, 2009

Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Ada. She was a very sweet girl and she went to lots and lots of theaters. She went to a show called Dirty Sock Funtime Band at Ravinia. I got a CD. It was of Dirty Sock Funtime Band. It was a fun band.

The thing that I liked was that I wasn't scared of Mr. Clown anymore. He was a funny character. He had a pink wig. And I noticed something about him. His glasses matched his wig. I thought he was funny.

I really like Michael. And I got to talk to him. I said that I liked his scarf that he had on in the performance. It was gold, and it was sparkly. And he was the leader of the band because he was singing lots and lots of the songs. He was a fun leader.

I really like the girl in it—there's only one girl. Her name was Annie. She seemed like the dancer of the band. She was very pretty—I liked her dress. I thought that she was a very beautiful singer.

I really liked the music. They said about theirselves, "We are the Dirty Sock Funtime Band"—they sing it. They did one that was called a "No Good Reason Party"—I thought it was great. I saw a video of it on Jack's Big Music Show: it was better as a live performance. I liked it because I like how it was sung—loud. The energy was fast but I don't know why they were very fast. "A Hundred Thousand Clowns Catching Waves Day" was funny. It was funny how they sang it—he sang it very softly and then got fast. I really liked "Gazoopa" because it was about something that wasn't actually real. It was mythical. I like songs about those things. They did stuff that the Gazoopa did. We went around the place. It was fun and Mr. Clown was the leader. The "Super Spies" song was great. It made me feel very very scared. I liked feeling scared—I just like how it feels in my tummy. It was being scared like I was being scared of a play—it was not real and the way it felt was different.

There was a REALLY scary part. I got yelled at by the guard. And mom was about to say "This is a DANCE concert, man. The kids are supposed to dance at this concert. The band told them to dance."

Everybody come to see Dirty Sock Funtime Band because Dirty Sock Funtime Band is really fun. They'll feel very excited. See you some other time. Bye bye.

Review of The Wizard of Oz at The Chicago Theatre

Once I went to a show and it was called Wizard of Oz. It took place in Kansas and Oz. And Munchkinland. So, there was a kind of tornado; it was a little bit scary. They just put a screen around the house that went around in a circle. I liked the dog who played Toto. He was really good and so was the girl who played Dorothy. And Aunt Em. I thought they were good because they had so much excitement. And they sang a pretty song called "Over the Rainbow." She was a little girl, but she was not actually a little girl; she was a grown woman. There were still some kids in the show that played the munchkins. One of the munchkin girls should play Dorothy. And I think Toto was just fine the way he was, but I think it would be very exciting if Dorothy carried Toto in the basket for awhile until they got to the Oz. Instead he walked along behind.

I thought the costumes were pretty. Dorothy's costume was very beautiful. It was black and white at the beginning. That made it different. It was blue and white in the rest of the show. The costume of the scarecrow I liked because I liked how his costume was kind of blue. I liked the Tin Man's costume because it was one of my favorite colors: silver. It looked very hard to dance in; the metal looked like it was really hard. I liked the Lion's costume. It kind of looked like a real lion—but a cowardly one. It looked cowardly because Yellow is a kind of cowardly color.

The singing and dancing was very pretty. It made me and Annika dance along. Annika is one of my friends, does anybody remember her? She gave me the Sushi Pack because she is one of my good friends. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was my favorite song. "If I Only Had a Brain" was one of my favorite songs. There were crows. The crows didn't like the scarecrow very much. They sang nice and beautifully. Jitterbug was one of the songs that was not in the movie. Because it was a good dance they put it in the show.

I liked when she went home. I want other people to go see it--all my friends.

Review of Twelfth Night at Chicago Shakespeare

We sat in the balcony. And the show was called Twelfth Night. I love Twelfth Night. I have a movie of it. But it is not real people it is just clay people. The play was at Chicago Shakespeare and I liked it. It was a little weirder than I remembered. Some things were not in my movie that were in the show. The things were: there was a swimming pool; there was a dark house; Viola fell from the sky instead of from a ship.

I loved Olivia and Viola because they were very fancy. And I also loved all the men cause there were lots of them. I liked Malvolio because he was funny because he wore the yellow stockings. That was a funny part. I loved Sir Toby. He was great and funny. I really loved Maria. She always had the greatest ideas. She was smart and clever. And so were all the other girls. I though that Sir Andrew Aguecheek was funny. I thought that when he fell in the water that was funny. The fight was good but I didn't notice very many stuff about it. Antonio was the one who was fighting with the other guy—Sir Andrew. The clown was funny and there were some things he did at the end—he sang. It rained. And he holded up an umbrella with holes in it. That was funny. It felt like I was at one of my friend's theaters because it was like a comedy. And my mom and dad said it was a comedy.

Something was also different from my movie. They didn't have a bench or a hole that looked like a heart. But the whole stage looked like a heart except for the part they walked on. The costumes were really fancy. I loved them. I liked the way that they looked—fancy. They had collars. I saw Olivia's dress was getting in the water and I didn't know if it was waterproof or not.

The music was very good. It was awesome. They had violins. That was also in the movie. I think the play is a little bit sad and a little bit happy. Because there is marrying and dying and thinking that some people are dead, like Sebastian and Viola.

My favorite line is: "If music be the food of love, play on." And I loved all the other lines. I loved every line there was. It was by Shakespeare.

I was the only person with bunny ears.

Review of Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov at Strawdog Theatre

There was this show that I went to and it was good. It was called the Cherry Orchard. Maybe I should start at the beginning. There were some funny parts. Yepihodav was my very favorite. Well he wasn't my favorite actor. Shannon was my favorite actor because there was lots and lots of kissing. There was some very funny parts. And when Yepihodov was coming some people said "Here comes trouble."

Jenny was awesome. It was just very good and better. She seemed different than she was offstage. Tom was pretty funny. He was just giving a speech about something that he had—a wardrobe or a bookshelf, I don't know. There was one sad part: they had to move. At the end don't you remember what Lopakin said? That he bought the whole entire house. And then he was laughing because he said that and they cut down the cherry orchard. Dad was my favorite actor because he was always great but he did kiss another woman but they were falling in love. But he was really in love with my mom. Because he really was. I thought that there was funny stuff that he did.

The costumes were cool. The good dress that I liked was Shannon's. I thought Anya's dress was awesome. And Anya was my favorite actor and Dad and Shannon were all my favorite actors. The music was awesome. It was very groovy. The dancing was great because it was very good and groovy and just great. I thought that Michaela was very funny. I thought that dropping the keys was hilarious. Pischick was going like he fell asleep and then someone said like "WELL" and he was like "Huh? Huh?" I thought that was good because it was hilarious. The directing was good. It was just funny. Other people thought the crying when the cherry orchard was cut down was funny but I didn't. But I didn't want anyone there to laugh because they thought they were doing the play wrong because they weren't.

Cherry Orchard is for everybody.

(Photo credits: Chris Ocken)

World of Wheels Car Show Jan. 23-25, 2009

We went to the car show with Aunt Amanda and Grammy and Grandpa. I could be a judge in it! It was really fun. We wanted to see my uncle's car in particular. You could find anything there. And there were lots of funny things and scary things. Like one with a sword and a bow and arrow and a skull. That was pretty scary!

There was one that reminded me of Mike from Monsters. Inc. I love how he shook her in his arms and told him to put her back where she came from. And in the takeout scenes he says throw up instead of grow up.
There was one that was greater than any one else. It was a purple carriage and I had a little class about it. I had my uncle and my aunt and my mom and my dad and my grammy and grandpa were in the class. Well, they were pretending to be kids. And it was so much fun.

There was one with a mummy that moved its eyes and said Ahhh! Well actually it was a statue in front of a car. And you had to stand in line to get in. There was one car about a little boy monster and there was a movie there and there was comic books—well really it was a movie of the comic books but it was still interesting. There was a Batmobile that was created for Batman in the comic books. The Batmobile you could take a picture with it. It was not as much fun as the comic book movie but it was pretty fun anyway.

Well that's not all, everybody. Well there is some more of my story but if you don't see the rest that is ok. If you never see it ever that means that you will never be able to see it ever again. If you live in Canada you could still see it, but never mind, let's get back to the story.

Uncle Brad won the first in the class. He might win every day. And Aunt Amanda needs to go to work everyday, well not everyday. She doesn't need to go there when I am supposed to come over to visit.

And there was a car you could go into the car. We were looking for one of those. There was a really big truck. We got to take a picture under it with Uncle Brad and Aunt Amanda, of course. Something that was very fun was there was pogo sticks. And there was a kid up on stage. Well, never mind, lets get back to the cars. So, you could go in a car. So you could go in some of them but not all of them. There was paint right on the car it was not actually ice cream but it was paint and it looked like ice cream had melted on the car. Other people should go to this car show because they have cars.

(Thanks to Aunt Amanda and Uncle Brad for the pictures!)

Review of Damine Kabuki Troupe performance at Art Institute of Chicago 1/10/09

At the Art Institute we saw a sign hung up on a stand and it said Kabuki. So, we got tickets for it. And then we thought it was a good idea to go because we called my Dad.

At first there was one with some girls playing girls and a boy playing a girl and a boy playing a boy. I was surprised that girls played girls because Kabuki has men playing girls sometimes.

They wore dresses and these little socks on their feet.

I liked that funny thing where the husband thought it was the servant instead of his wife. Because that was just funny. She was hiding. And there was something funny when the servant was under the blanket and he was sitting in the chair and his legs wiggled because he was so frightened when the wife patted his leg.

Then there was a princess one with a fox. And a husband but you didn't see the husband. And there was an older girl and a smaller boy. And one was playing the fox. He was nice and there were these policemen who were scared of the fox but he was a nice fox. And the princess liked him. I liked the part where he hopped? He put his hands in fists to hop.

I would like to see a Beauty and the Beast and Snow White Kabuki on my honeymoon.

Review of Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman on PBS Kids Go

Fetch! was pretty good. There were great contestants. They did a great job because they did a great job at making a toy. There were some boys staying behind and some girls going. And a few boys did some great projects. There was making a Fetch toy who did a good thing. Well it didn't actually do anything but the other one (that Ruff Ruffman had)did some things. It did anything that he said--like ice cream headache. There was really great contestants. They were so great. The toy-making ones. There was great stuff that they used to make the Fetch doll. There was gooey and bouncy things to make a toy. I think the polymer was the girl who made it. You need to just put them in something that looked like Ruff Ruffman and then it would be all ready once they got to the Fetch! House. Other kids should watch Fetch! on PBS Kids Go because it has a dog. If some people are allergic to dogs they may not watch it. If people are allergic to cats they may not watch it because it has one cat in it.