TV REVIEWS : Potter’s ‘Tailor’ Sews Up the Spirit

Beatrix Potter’s delightful “The Tailor of Gloucester” is turned into an hourlong holiday frolic on PBS’ “Great Performances” tonight (9 p.m. on Channels 15 and 24, 9:30 p.m. on Channel 28; and Saturday at 9 p.m. on Channel 50).

The tale of the poor little tailor who lived “in the time of swords and periwigs” and had his fortune made with the help of some friendly mice, is simply told through song, dance and pageantry.

The tailor (Ian Holm) must make the mayor’s wedding coat and vest by Christmas Day, three days away. Industriously, he cuts out the red silk and yellow taffeta, then sends his sly cat (dancer Francois Testory) out to buy cherry-colored twist to finish the button holes.

But the tailor falls ill with fever, and the cat, angry that his master has freed two mice he was saving for dinner, hides the twist in the teapot. But, never fear, the mice can sew the tiniest stitches--and the cat has a change of heart.

Directed and adapted by John Michael Phillips, the production features children of the Royal Ballet School as the mice, as well as members of the National Youth Music Theatre and the Choristers of Gloucester Cathedral and Winchester College. The narrator and Town Crier is played by bass Benjamin Luxon.

The entertaining hour, hosted by Lynn Redgrave, includes a brief, post-show biography of author/illustrator Potter, whose beloved children’s books have not been out of print since “Peter Rabbit” was published in 1902.