Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was a tee-hee, hoo-hah, goofy, very boffo Friday night at the Arkansas Arts Center Children's Theatre in Little Rock.
The theater opened its 2016-17 season with this 70-minute musical version of the 1972 children's book by Judith Viorst.
Alexander wakes up with his first complaint: "There's gum in my hair." What could be worse? Plenty develops under John Isner's quick-paced direction.
Jeremy Matthey's Alexander is an orange mop-topped walking geranium, a misfit even by himself. The boy is destined for a day of bad grades, lima beans and bath soap in his eyes. Before long, Matthey had the young audience chanting along with him: "Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!"
Everything goes right for Alexander's lively brothers (Tyler Wisdom and Kenneth Barron). But Alexander can't even find the flashy sneakers he wants at the shoe store. He has to settle for blah white.
Meantime, the sparkly shoe salesman (Geoffrey Eggleston) high-steps into a show-stopping number about "hot-hot shoes."
It falls to Alexander's mom (Aleigha Morton), to relay the book's message, edgy for a children's book at the time it was written: Bad days just happen sometimes. "But you get to start all over tomorrow."
Mark Hansen, Grace Taylor and Rebecca Taylor round out the able cast of the show, which continues through Oct. 9. More information is available at arkansasartscenter.org, or by calling (501) 372-4000.
Metro on 09/24/2016