When the musical adaptation of beloved children's author Roald Dahl's book James and the Giant Peach became available, local theater director Mark Burbank was immediately intrigued.
James tells the story of an English orphan who has been taken in by his wicked aunts only so they can have a servant. When a magical potion causes an enormous peach to sprout in their front yard, James finds himself drawn into the enchanted, self-contained world inside the peach, where he meets a motley cast of human-size, talking insects. The peach eventually rolls into the ocean, and James' quest to find a family of his own finds resolution as he helps the crew fight off shark attacks and other challenges, before the enormous fruit washes up on the other side of the Atlantic.
James and the Giant Peach
7:30 p.m. today-Saturday, 2:30 p.m Sunday through Aug. 21, The Studio Theatre, 320 W. 7th Street, Little Rock
Tickets: $25 adults, $20 senior citizens, military and students; Friday’s special performance $35 adults, $25 senior citizens, military and students
(501) 374-2615
Burbank, 21, who last summer directed the musical Dogfight at The Studio Theatre, says "Something [in it] speaks to me. One of the biggest themes in James and the Giant Peach is finding your forever family.
"That theme is true of my life."
Burbank estimates his parents, both career teachers for Bryant Public Schools, fostered close to 100 children over the course of his childhood. The summer before he entered fifth grade, the girl who would become his sister came to live with his family. After a year and a half, they formally adopted her.
"She was already family," Burbank says. "We didn't want to lose her. Even now, [she and I] talk about, we're almost twins.
"We just clicked, and so, even the idea for me of losing her at that point, I was like, 'Nope, that cannot be a thing.'"
Today, Burbank and his sister, Georgeanne, 21, are college seniors majoring in theater arts (he at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, she at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia). He wants to be a director; her focus is acting.
The show, which debuts tonight at The Studio Theatre, runs each day this weekend and next. A portion of Friday's ticket sales will go to Project Zero, a nonprofit organization helping connect children in the Arkansas foster care system with families wishing to permanently adopt. Patrons can also make donations.
The cast is headlined by John Michael Murphy of Little Rock as James. Burbank first met the 12-year-old a couple years ago during a summer musical theater educational program at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. He cast John in his production of Shrek! The Musical, which ran in April at the Royal Theatre in Benton.
"I've seen him grow so much," Burbank says of John, whom he calls "really mature" for his age.
Burbank expects audiences will be entertained by mean aunts Spiker and Sponge, played by Kayla Walker and Jenny Moses.
"Pretty much every time they are on the stage, they will steal the scene, they are so funny," he says. "They're those kind of characters [that] you hate them, but love them."
Other key cast members include Scotty Scott as Ladahlord, Marcia Brown as Ladybug, Daniel Collier as Grasshopper, Braxton O. Johnson as Earthworm, Avery Bruce as Spider and Ryan Whitfield as Centipede.
One final cast member of note: Burbank's sister, Georgeanne, is a member of the ensemble.
"Truly a family," he says.
Weekend on 08/11/2016