Tonight, on my son’s insistence to see his friend perform, I had the great pleasure of taking a walk Into the Woods by the Riverdale Children’s Theater. While I was familiar with the existence of the Riverdale Children’s Theater I had not yet attended a performance prior to tonight and therefore wasn’t sure as to what to expect. I must say that what I encountered was a positive environment where the young performers were not only amazingly talented in acting, dancing and singing but they were visibly enjoying themselves on stage. I am no theater critic nor am I a professional performer, although I’ve had my share of camera time (had to throw that in), but the show went on with minimal blunders which were quickly overshadowed by humorous lines and witty songs. This truly was a Junior Broadway experience. My son enjoyed the performance and thought his friend was simply “awesome”. He also had much to say about other characters and he particularly liked the witch’s costume and performance.
This was definitely worth the admission ticket, not only for the superb level of performance, costume and stage design but also for supporting an organization that puts visible effort into nurturing children’s love of the performing arts and developing their talents. Because no review piece goes without its not so positive comments (notice how I couldn’t even say negative) I do have three very specific regrets. First, my son was extremely disappointed that the concession ran out of snacks before we reached the counter but as he put it, he got over it because the show was so good (and I can attest to that once the curtain went back up he forgot about the snacks). Still, my biggest regrets were not having seen the first performance so that I could encourage others to go and not having a better camera than my iPhone. With that said, this will not be our last visit to the Riverdale Children’s Theater. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to visit their website at RiverdaleTheater.org to find out about upcoming shows and other programs.