What is the reason for james and the giant peach making news lately?”
The city’s fifth-graders recently experienced an adventure of a lifetime—inside a peach—as the Stillwater High School performance troupe and technical theater class entertained the elementary students with the hourlong dramatized story James and the Giant Peach. The Thursday morning performance gave students a taste of excitement as the high school students prepared for a single public performance at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. “I loved it,” junior Drew Brown, who plays James Trotter, said. “As James, I get to be their age on stage. I get to be 10 again.” The story is performed by Lisa Larios’ performance troupe class of juniors and seniors, which is only offered in the fall. Larios said the class primarily provides the younger classmates with a reader’s theater, story adaptations, fairy tales and poetry readings of poets, such as Shel Silverstein. “Generally the kids that kind of gravitate to this class are the ones that really like the little kids and really have enjoyed acting,” Larios said.
In its 30th Birthday season the Polka Theatre has returned to its most successful show to date and it is easy to see why. David Wood’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s much loved story is a delight from the start. James (James Daley) introduces us to his insect friends who all look spot on, particularly the Grasshopper (Andrew Mathys) who also plays the violin wonderfully. The story then begins. We meet James’ two sinister aunts, Aunt Spiker (Anna-Marie Paraskeva) and Aunt Sponge (Neil Smye), the latter having the distinct air of a pantomime dame about her – the children in the audience are both amused and disgusted by them. Once James escapes from them the adventure begins. The story is set beautifully thanks to the design by Keith Baker, and lighting by Jim Simmons, both of which remain effective throughout and create a magical atmosphere. As James and his insect friends go on their adventure we are treated to some amusing songs, most notably from the Centipede (Neil Smye), amusing comment
