Busy weekend for children's theatre in Chicago!

This weekend my wife is away, which turns out to be the perfect timing-- that means that my son and I can go to some children's theatre without feeling bad about not including her.

She doesn't always come on our adventures to the theatre-- not that she doesn't like theatre, just that I often get invited with two tickets, not three, and she's usually busy with other stuff.  And she prefers Broadway style musicals, which most children's theatre is decidedly not. (And that's a good thing!)

Speaking of adventures, tonight we are attending the Chicago Children's Theatre opening night of the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.

 It's based on the best-selling kid's book, which was written by Newberry award winner Kate DiCamillo. Ms. DiCamillo also wrote Tales of Desperaux and the book Because of Winn-Dixie.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane is the story of a very dapper china rabbit named Edward Tulane who gets lost at sea, bounces from person to person and decade to decade until the audience is shown a true miracle, and Edward discovers the transformative power of love.  And of course, along the way, this porcelain rabbit has plenty of adventures and intrigue.

To find out more about the story, check out http://www.edwardtulane.com/.  It has some great video excerpts talking with the author and the illustrator about the process of writing the book.  It also has a great Teacher's guide to the book, which will be useful in talking to students about the show.

See this book on Amazon

The show is playing at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the Gold Coast 1016 N. Dearborn Street, and will run through November 15. To find out more about the show, and to purchase tickets, visit the Chicago Children's Theatre event page.

Explore Magic Treehouse
 books on Amazon.

On Sunday, we are going to attend another kid's theatre show, also based on a book.  We are attending the Emerald City Theatre production of  The Magic Treehouse:  A Night In New Orleans.

As you probably know, the Magic TreeHouse is a series of books by Mary Pope Osborne.  The series features a brother and sister (Jack and Annie) who discover a (surprise) Magic TreeHouse.  The treehouse is  filled with magic books, and the books take the pair on a number of adventures through time, space, and literature.  Throughout the series they've visited dinosaurs, Camelot, ancient Egypt, outer space, and to a bunch of other places as well. There are over 50 Magic Treehouse books, and many of them have fact checking companion books that present the stories and places of the book in a non-fictional context.

This musical play is based on the book A Good Night For Ghosts.

Louis Armstrong plays some music for Jack and Annie.

 In it, the treehouse brings the brother and sister adventurers to 1915 New Orleans, where they hear jazz music, get on a steamboat, eat jambalaya, and help a very young Louis Armstrong on his way to become the King of Jazz.  There's plenty of ragtime music, lots of dancing, and a great amount of learning and fun.

This show is aimed at kids ages 5-13, and is being presented through January 2 at the Apollo Theatre, 2540 North Lincoln Ave in Lakeview.

To find out more about the show and to buy tickets, visit the show page.

I should also mention that Emerald City has two shows for younger kids also in rotation.
Dragons Love Tacos (for ages 3-8) at the Apollo Theatre, and Three Little Kittens (for ages 0-5) playing at the Little Theatre on Southport.