Children’s Theatre Review : Phun ‘Phantom,’ but Young Ones May Not Get Puns

We can report that the parents in the audience loved the Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre’s performance Saturday of “The Phantom Tollbooth.”

The kids, we’re not so sure about.

After the show, a lot of little ones clamored in the lobby for autographs from the Youth Theatre company members (still in costume). But during the show, the usual sound of pint-sized amusement in the house had been most conspicuously absent.

On the other hand, the grown-ups--this reviewer included--were having a pretty good time. Is it possible that it’s been 33 years since Norton Juster wrote his picaresque adventure of young, bored Milo, his travels to the Lands Beyond and the lessons he learns there about life’s richness? It seems like just yesterday when we read that book, even if we were in the fourth grade.

Maybe a lot of the kids at Laguna hadn’t read Juster’s tale, but that shouldn’t get in the way of enjoying a staging of Susan Nanus’ adaptation.

True, Nanus’ version virtually eliminates more than one-third of the book and rudely drops such wonderful (and naturally theatrical) people and places as traffic cop Officer Short Shrift, Faintly Macabre the Not-So-Wicked Which, orchestra conductor Chroma the Great, the City of Reality and the Valley of Sound.

But while there’s no substitute for the original (except maybe Chuck Jones’ eccentric animated film version, available on video), Nanus’ play preserves Juster’s ingenuity, the basic boy-and-his-dog relationship and, above all, Juster’s pun-a-minute (sometimes pun-a-second) style.

Saturday, the children seemed to get the ongoing battle between the Kingdoms of Dictionopolis (where words reign) and Digitopolis (where numbers reign). And they chuckled audibly at Amy Lang’s amusing Spelling Bee, who spells out every other word she speaks, and Michael Tryon’s larger-than-life Kakafonous A. Dischord, Doctor of Dissonance.

But some of the subtle and brilliant wordplay might have been beyond them. Milo, at one point, runs into such characters as the Dodecahedron and the Terrible Trivium. Be warned, parents: We’re not watching “Barney” anymore. This is one show, at least, that assumes kids aren’t just dumb consumers-in-training.

Joe Lauderdale’s staging could be a little friendlier, though--or at least more fun. Beginning with designer Timothy Mueller’s unsightly attempt at soft, cushy set pieces and going on to David Edwards’ barely audible sound, there’s a hesitancy, a static quality, plaguing the feel and action of the show.

As Milo, Justin Morgan provides some good emotional ground for the kids to get into, but the real energy is provided by a small group of actors enjoying themselves supremely: Elisabeth Cass as loyal watchdog Tock; Terry Christopher as bumbling, pompous Humbug; Marc Ravenhill and Aaron Matthew Kraft as the feuding kings; Beth Crosby and Athena Gam as the imprisoned Princesses of Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason, and Michael Proppe’s Senses Taker. Get it? We hope the kids can.

“The Phantom Tollbooth,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Ends Sunday. $6-$9 (children under 4 not admitted). (714) 497-9244. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. Justin Morgan Milo

Elisabeth Cass: Tock

Terry Christopher: the Humbug

Marc Ravenhill: Azaz the Unabridged

Aaron Matthew: Kraft: the Mathemagician

Beth Crosby: Princess of Sweet Rhyme

Athena Gam: Princess of Pure Reason

Michael Tryon: Kakafonous A. Dischord/Demon of Insincerity/Word Merchant

Amy Lang: Spelling Bee/Lethargarian

Michael Proppe: the Senses Taker

M.J. Sieber: the Whether Man/Word Merchant/Demon

A Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre production of Susan Nanus’ play adapted from Norton Juster’s book and directed by Joe Lauderdale. Set: Timothy Mueller. Lights: David Hudnall. Costumes: Dwight Richard Odle. Sound: David Edwards.