Players Club of Swarthmore's Many Moons is a holiday treat

Theater: Players Club of Swarthmore
Show Title: Many Moons
Opened: December 21, 2007
Seen: December 21, 2007
Reviewer: Ryan Bunch
Submitted: December 25, 2007

The holidays can be a hectic time, so it is especially generous of the Players Club of Swarthmore to offer us this charming little show. Short but sweet, Many Moons is a quietly touching respite from the seasonal chaos, suitable for the young and young at heart.

The appeal of this performance is due in no small part to director George Mulford’s obvious affection for the work of James Thurber, who wrote the original short story on which this adaptation is based. It is the tale of Princess Lenore (Rebecca Buxbaum) who, indulged by her father the King (Ted Ford), can have anything she wants, including all the varieties of raspberry tart she can dream up. The Princess grows ill, however, when she can’t have the one thing she really wants—the moon. The wise men of the court—the Lord High Chamberlain (Paul Kerrigan), the Royal Wizard (Al Them), and the Royal Mathematician (Gregory Scott Miller)—make repeated and unsuccessful attempts to find a solution, while the Lord High Chamberlain’s Wife (Lori-Nan Engler) frets and the Royal Nurse (Beth Gillin) tisk-tisks over the Princess’s medical condition. Finally it takes the Court Jester (Chris Monaco) to understand the nature of the young Princess’s imagination sufficiently to come to the right answer to her problem, with the help of the Goldsmith’s Daughter (Sally Race). The stage adaptation is by legendary children’s playwright Charlotte B. Chorpenning.

The set for Many Moons is spare, suiting the straightforward nature of the story and consisting of little more than a throne, a bed and a bell cord. The costumes by contrast are brightly colored and fanciful, serving to emphasize the characters and their personalities. The actors all play their roles with gentle humor and sincerity of feeling. There is a carpet laid out for young theater goers to sit on, and the little raspberry tarts served at intermission are delicious.

The main feature is preceded by a series of variations on Aesop’s stories of The Fox and the Crow from Thurber’s Further Fables for our Time. These are presented by the cast wearing minimal costuming which allows them to trade roles from one short episode to the next, allowing a subtly shifting field of comedic characterizations in a little saga of the Fox, the Crow and a block of cheese.

The script of Many Moons relies a great deal on traditional, repetitious storytelling devices. This formula occasionally wears thin as the wise men of the court one by one go through long lists of tart varieties, myths about the moon and misguided solutions to the Princess’s problem. These episodes also tend to be a little heavy on verbiage, and toward the end I noticed a little fidgeting from the youngest members of the audience.

For the most part, though, young and old were transfixed by this heartfelt and simple tale. Altogether, the show doesn’t demand much of and audience’s time, either. Coming in at just about an hour, it makes a nice little holiday treat.

Many Moons runs December 27, 28 and 29 at 2:00pm. Thursday and Friday, the 27th and 28th, at 7:00 p.m. (NB: NOT 8:00!) For tickets call 866-811-4111. For more information visit www.pcstheater.org.

Ryan Bunch is a vocal instructor, writer and composer specializing in musical theater and theater for young audiences. He has provided voice training, musical direction, songwriting, script development and educational services for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Mainstage Center for the Arts, Center Stage Productions, Chichester School District, West Chester Summer Stage, Renaissance Artist Puppet Company, and the Players Board of Chestnut Hill Academy and Springside School. For additional information visit www.ryanbunch.com.