There’s a great old theater in my town (the Mount Baker Theatre, built in 1927) that hosts a lot of traveling shows. I’ve seen Mary Chapin Carpenter sing there, and Margeret Cho do standup.
Today I got to see a musical version of Ada Twist, Scientist.
If you haven’t read the original picture book for Ada Twist, Scientist (2016), I recommend it. Andrea Beaty’s book about a young scientist has spawned translations, audio translations, sequels, and a Netflix series. The book does a good job of modeling scientific inquiry and women in STEM, and is fun, lively, and well-illustrated.
This musical incorporated characters from other books in the series, specifically Rosie Revere from Rosie Revere, Engineer and Iggy Peck from Iggy Peck, Architect. In this musical, all three are in the same class at school, which, to be honest, made things a little crowded, and pulled focus from any one character.
Being aimed at kids, the musical was staged at 10 AM (and then again at noon). What that meant was, there were at least 20 kids for every adult in the theater, half the kids were on booster seats, and half were vibrating sort of in time with the music—and all the jokes about stink and butts got big laughs.
The experience was fantastic, and the cast skilled, with fine voices, but the play was…limited. Forgettable. I’ve seen many musicals performed, and often walked out singing, or at least humming, songs from them. I can’t think of one from today’s show…but I will carry the image of my vibrating fellow theatergoers with me for years.
