They’re calling it “Pigeon-mania” at Dallas Children’s Theater. All the proof you need comes early on a Friday afternoon. Hundreds of kids squirm in the seats, restless and ready for the day’s second performance of The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza!, the latest musical from Mo Willems, rock star to the elementary set.
Chanting together for the show to start, they practically will it into existence. Kyle Igneczi, the actor-puppeteer playing the Pigeon, acts frightened when he sees the packed house, then asks, “Can I drive the bus?” The audience quickly shouts back in unison, “No!”
It’s one of the tropes the children know from Willems’ Pigeon picture-book series. After making his bones as a writer and animator on Sesame Street, he has authored more than a dozen Pigeon titles and more than two dozen in his Elephant & Piggie series.
Previous musicals at DCT have featured the characters separately. This is the first time they cross over in a kind of multiverse.
The Pigeon may be a hit with the 2- to 7-year-old demographic he’s aimed at and beyond because he’s one of them: pure id stubbornly wanting its way and right now. In the classic
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!, despite much resistance he learns to share the treat he’d rather keep for himself.
In Holiday Extravaganza, which in a rolling world premiere is also slated for children’s theater stages in six other cities, his patience is tested when he learns of plans for the big party. Like his audience, he doesn’t like to wait for life’s payoffs. But first, there’s a trip to the North Pole and a dream ballet along the way.
To DCT’s credit, it treats the production as if it had to pass scrutiny with adult theatergoers. That is, it’s tight — beautifully timed, sung and acted by cast members you’ll see in shows for grown-ups around town giving equal if not greater effort, with a colorful set and costumes worthy of any stage. Little asides appear designed to go over the kids’ heads, for their parents’ benefit.
The show didn’t officially open until the next day, with two afternoon performances scheduled every Saturday and Sunday. That’s when families go. During the week, school kids are bused in for two shows daily. Emily Ernst, the new DCT artistic director, estimates 10,000 children will see it.
Ernst says Holiday Extravaganza started with an email from associate artistic director Artie Olaisen to Deborah Wicks La Puma, the composer who collaborates with Willems on his musicals, after the success in 2023 of Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Sleigh! In the end, DCT co-commissioned the musical with the other children’s theaters.
Despite a squirrel played by Lily Gast pointing out early on that this is no mere party, it’s an extravaganza — “It’s in the title of the play,” she says — one of the lessons is that size doesn’t matter. Another is you can make great theater for any age group.
Details
Through Dec. 21 at 5938 Skillman St. $33-$95. dct.org.
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