Review of Goldilocks and the Three Bears at Emerald City Theatre

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It was directed by Ernie Nolan. The music was by George Stiles and the book was by Anthony Drewe. It was about a little girl named Goldilocks (Mary Margaret Roberts) whose father (Martin James Hughes) was making a new road but it would go right through the three bears's (Claire Kaiser, Blake Reddick, and Tommy Bullington) house. One day, Goldilocks came upon the house. She had run away from her dad because she couldn't chop wood with him. And she basically vandalizes the house. Most of you know the story. I think this could be a fun show to take little kids to because I think it was a good pace and length for kids under 5.

I thought that this show had problems with associating gender with certain things. If you take your child to go see this show, you should talk to them afterward because when you leave the show it leaves you with two different perspectives on what women are good for. One of them is a song that Goldilocks sings about being a girl and how she can do anything. And I thought, "Yeah! That's right! Girls can do anything!" But then in a song a little bit before, the bears were singing a song about porridge--which I thought went on a little too long--and then the boys are asked to make their own porridge. But then they try to make porridge and both fail miserably. That is sexist against men and women because it suggests that women are only good for one thing, cooking and doing all the housework. It is sexist against men because it is like, "Cooking is women's work. Men can't cook!" (I imagine that being said by a commercial announcer from 40's radio.) I thought we dealt with that a long time ago! I think it is great how women can do housework but men can do the same, and both of them can also have other jobs. Whatever people do, their work should be cherished and not taken for granted.

I thought that it was great that this play decided to deal with environmental issues, but the little kids I think wouldn't have gotten it, only the kids coming that were like 6 and over would have gotten the clues that they were talking about environmental issues. The play suggests that people are killing animals to make big city roads and more pollution. But I think a three year old doesn't really understand about death and bulldozers that could knock down trees and kill birds. And if they do, this play would just make them sad. The play doesn't think that people should just not make roads; it thinks that people should plan them out so they cannot kill animals. That is a good idea, but I think it is more appropriate for older kids who can actually deal with the idea of animals dying and actually think about it.

I liked it when Goldilocks ripped off her skirt and there were pants under it. I thought that showed how she was a girl who was ready to go out and explore. And I thought it was cute how she had a bear backpack that she would turn around to show things. The costumes (by Megan E. Turner) were pretty cool overall. I liked Mama Bear's outfit because it looked like something from Marilyn Monroe's time. I also thought it was cool how they taught the kids how to actually make porridge. They told them all the ingredients and they also showed you how to cook it. Then the children can go home and make porridge, and it will remind them of how much fun they had.

People who would like this show are people who like animal rights, cute bear backpacks, and porridge. It is getting hard for me to think about what I would think about this show if I were five, but I think that little kids would probably like this show a lot. Older kids might want to wait to see BFG at Emerald City, which I am very excited to go and see!


Photos: Johnny Knight