THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410120125
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HENRY EDGAR, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Monstrous giants and a hen that lays eggs of gold join forces with a young boy named Jack and a family cow named Bessie when Theatre IV returns to Portsmouth on Saturday with an all-new musical adaptation of another classic children's story, ``Jack and the Beanstalk.''
The second in the troupe's Storybook Theatre series, this adaptation begins in a barn where Jack's mother is trying to coax some milk from Bessie, who hasn't given any milk for quite a while. Jack's mother finally gives up on Bessie, leaving Jack alone in the barn, brandishing his toy sword against imaginary monsters. Eventually, Jack begins creating a story about another young boy named Jack, acting the tale out as it unfolds.
In Jack's story, the boy is taking Bessie to market where he must sell her to provide money for his family to live. But he's sidetracked by a mysterious one-armed man who trades him a bag of beans for the cow. Jack's mother believes he's been swindled and throws the beans out the window. From the beans sprouts a giant talking beanstalk bearing an amazing resemblance to the one-armed man. Jack climbs the beanstalk into the clouds, where he steals a bag of gold from the giant and convinces the hen that lays the golden eggs to escape with him.
Did the story really happen or did Jack make it all up? That's up to the young audiences, who are always encouraged to use their imaginations in Theatre IV productions. Audiences also are encouraged to use their imagination to make the giant and the beanstalk as big and as tall as they wish without depending upon stilts or other special effects to detract from the intimacy of the show itself.
Saturday's production is directed by K. Strong. Book and lyrics are by Douglas Jones and music is by Ron Barnett. Costumes are by Thomas W. Hammond with the set by Terri Powers.
The roots of Jack's story can be traced back for hundreds of years with man's fascination with giants and journeys into the sky above the clouds dating back to biblical times, with a genesis in both Jacob's ladder and David and Goliath, while Asian literatures tells of Buddla's Bo Tree, which springs up into the sky after it was planted. MEMO: AT A GLANCE
``Jack and the Beanstalk'' will be presented at 11 a.m. Saturday at
Willett Hall, 307 Willett Drive. Tickets, at $4 for children and $5.50
for adults, available at the Willett Hall box office and at all
Ticketmaster locations. by CNB