By Guest Writer Julie Terrone
Freckleface the Musical has a great message: be comfortable in the skin you are in! These days kids have a really hard time dealing with name calling and being comfortable with being different. Nobody likes to get picked on! The actors in this musical dealt with various types of bullying when they were kids, but they got through it and are cool now. Maybe you didn’t grow up with freckles, but you were the tallest, shortest, thinnest, or chunkiest of your friends, but in the end you realized this is what made you different. Not in a bad way, but in a special way.
Freckleface the Musical is based on acclaimed actress Julianne Moore’s autobiographical children’s books “Freckleface Strawberry” and “Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully”. At age 7, Julianne had freckles and did not like the nicknames she was called; she dreamed of being like everyone else.
I had the opportunity to take my 6 year old daughter Marisa and her friend Mia to see this show and they enjoyed the different characters: Freckleface Strawberry, Jake a smart geeky boy, a perfect, but lonely ballet dancer, Danny the basketball player, a cute ditz girl who likes Danny, the mother, the little brother, and the teacher. Marisa and Mia were thrilled to meet some of the cast members after the show. They talked about parts of the show on the way home and who they liked. The message according to Marisa is that “you should love who you and you should always be yourself”. Mia said “I learned you shouldn’t be a bully and you should be happy for who you are”.
It was a thought-provoking production for both kids and adults. Talented adult actors convincingly played 7 year olds. It is a show geared towards 4-12 year olds, but adults will be entertained too. It was a lively, fast moving 70 minute show with no intermission. Affordable healthy snacks and refreshments are available at the snack bar. The theater is not large and every seat in the house is a great one.
The songs in the show were really good and full of positive messages. One powerful scene showed the mother taking notice that Strawberry was sad; Strawberry told her mom how she hated being called names; how she hated being different. Her mom sang her a song, telling her she was loved positively and that she was perfectly perfect to her family. It was nice to see the troubled girl be able to speak about her problem. Eventually Strawberry realized she had friends who liked her for who she was and that everyone is different. She grew up, went to college and had a family and forgot all about those freckles.
For more information on freckleface the Musical, visit MamaDrama on BroadwayWorld.com
Discount code: use MAMADRAMAA at the box office or online for $40 tickets at: http://www.broadwayoffers.com/go.aspx?MD=2001&MC=MAMADRAMA
http://www.frecklefacethemusical.com/index.html
Show times are Saturdays and Sundays at 1:00pm & 3:00pm. Tickets now available through April 1, 2012
Theater: MMAC 248 W 60th St. between West End Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue. New York, NY 10023
There is a parking garage right next to the building.
Thank you to MamaDrama for supplying me with tickets. No other compensation was received.
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