The Cat in the Hat made almost as much mischief as Little Rock's icy streets Friday night, opening at the Arkansas Arts Center Children's Theatre.
About 200 adults and children braved the remnants of a winter storm to see this 45-minute stage version of the children's classic by Dr. Seuss, aka Theodor Geisel.
The 1957 book proved that a beginner's reader of few words could be as much fun as being home alone. Anything might happen -- even a visit from the cat in his red-and-white-striped topper.
Katie Mitchell's adaption is from the National Theatre of Great Britain. Directed by Katie Campbell, it plays out in a Seussian setting of primary colors -- blue for the color of a rainy day. The show retains the book's rhyming patter as narration and brings the Cat's antics to life.
Little Rock native Courtney Bennett plays the title Cat in costume, complete with hat and curling tail. Bennett brings clown training to the part, and the Cat's bumbles and pratfalls amount to a circus act minus only the peanuts.
Company member Mark Hansen is the other standout performer, as the cautionary goldfish. Hansen deftly manipulates a hand puppet fish in and out of the bowl, all the while warning that the Cat is up to no good.
Newcomers to this stage, Sharon Combs and Benjamin Gibson, are the book's Sally and her brother. Aleigha Morton and Lauren Linton complete the all-adult cast as the Cat's wild, blue-haired companions, Thing 1 and Thing 2.
The Cat and the brats wreck the house. But the Cat's magical cleanup machine fixes everything just before mother comes home to ask whether anything happened. Like the book, the show ends with a question: "What would you do if your mother asked you?"
Sally and her brother could say the show is more about runaround commotion than the funny tale of wordplay that Dr. Seuss told. They might say it could do with fewer whoopee cushion noises, more than Horton ever heard. But they probably would say they giggled a lot.
The Cat in the Hat continues through March 29. More information is available at arkarts.comor by calling (501) 372-4000.
Metro on 03/08/2015