Charming Adaptation of ‘Anastasia Krupnik’ Tops This List

“Anastasia Krupnik,” the irrepressible, articulate, list-making 10-year-old heroine created by children’s book author Lois Lowry, comes to life at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank with foibles and peppery charm intact.

It’s highly enjoyable, not least because of Brenda Grate, the pro child actress who inhabits the title role with captivating zest.

First honors, however, go to Falcon executive producer Meryl Friedman for her sure hand as director and her lively, smart adaptation of Lowry’s book.

The play begins with Anastasia sharing her lists of loves and hates, lists as changeable as Anastasia herself: Liver gets a permanent thumbs-down, but pumpkin pie and boys make both lists.

So do parents: Anastasia’s artist mom (Elizabeth Karr) and poet dad (Herb Mendelsohn) lose their positive ranking when they reveal that a new baby is on the way.

“What are you trying to do, be in the Guinness Book of World Records? “ (Mom at 35 and Dad at 45 are ancient as far as their daughter is concerned.)

She would move out in disgust, but Christmas is coming and her parents are going to let her name the baby. That’s revenge worth sticking around for.

This fourth-grader, with her self-proclaimed “mercurial temperament,” doesn’t suffer other stresses quietly either: Her teacher, Mrs. Westvessel (Bryna Weiss), doesn’t appreciate her creative style; her crush on cool sixth-grader Washburn Cummings is doomed; her desire to become a Catholic like her friend Jennifer (Shannon Sutter) lasts only as long as it takes her to grasp the concept of confession.

The humor is as appealing to adults as it is to kids, but so is the real world stuff that forms the show’s substantive base: Anastasia’s anxiety about the baby has a counterpoint in her confused feelings for her grandmother (Weiss again). She hates that Grandma is so old and forgetful. Why can’t she be like her classmate’s grandma, who’s 50, plays music in a bar and wears false eyelashes?

It’s in Anastasia’s observations of her world that her understanding grows: Grandma’s memories of the past spark her compassion, she discovers Mrs. Westvessel’s kindness, and she recognizes the sense of renewal that the baby brings.

Karr and Mendelsohn are engaging as the bemused, affectionate parents of a precocious child; Sutter, who understudies for Anastasia, does a confident job as Jennifer; and Weiss is suitably teacherly, although she is far from believably aged as 92-year-old Grandma.

The show, however, belongs to Grate, who portrays Anastasia’s irresistible bounce and prickliness so well, and when it counts, her vulnerability.

The well-produced show includes Dan Weingarten’s deft lighting, the real-life casual look of Karen J. Weber’s costumes, and Akeime Mitterlehner’s comfortable at-home set design. It’s dominated by a skewed, oversized picture frame where projections show the audience what Anastasia writes in her notebook.

This is the first in the Falcon’s inaugural children’s theater series. If it’s a sample of the kind of quality that audiences can expect, it’s cause to celebrate.

BE THERE

“Anastasia Krupnik,” Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank. Saturdays, noon and 2 p.m.; Sundays, 1 p.m. Ends Nov. 28. $8.50. (818) 955-8101. Running time: one hour.