‘The Littlest Witch’ Is a Promising Brew

The Easter Bunny is going to have to keep a tight grip on his basket of goodies, Santa better watch out or he won’t be so jolly, and even Baby New Year has to be on guard: “The Littlest Witch” thinks that every day is Halloween, or should be, and she has plenty of tricks up her sleeve to prove it.

“The Littlest Witch,” a perky family musical making its West Coast premiere at the Secret Rose Theatre in North Hollywood, is based on the children’s book by Tony Jerris and Corinne Aquilina, who wrote the show, too. Directed by Lee Magnuson, it features a cast of adult and child actors with professional stage and screen credits, some of whom alternate in various roles on different days.

The plot: The Littlest Witch trails the Easter Bunny (a droll Mike Rademaekers) to a farm in order to purloin his chocolate rabbits and jelly beans. There she gets caught up in a singing pig’s dreams of stardom. The Littlest Piggy (Shari Becker), however, doesn’t know that her ticket to Nashville is actually a one-way ride to Mean Dean’s Smoke House, and only the naughty little witch can save her.

A magic mirror, played by mellow-voiced children’s recording artist Mark Beckwith; a good-natured cat (Andrea Walters); and a sturdy magic broom (Tony Matthews), who’d rather clean house than fly, urge the Littlest Witch to do the right thing.

Meanwhile, she finds herself coping with the taunts and schemes of hungry Daddy Long Legs (Matthews again), Mean Dean (a humorously villainous Christopher Showerman) and six skeptical, wisecracking farm animals and frogs, played with gusto and comic charm by child actors Sarah Ganzel and Hayley Goldstein in three roles each. This pair is quite a song-and-dance team, too.

This is a promising show in need of some fine-tuning. Set pieces by Magnuson, Matthews and Rademaekers and costumes by Kaz Mata-Mura, Pea Chiba and Wonder Pea Productions are colorful and fun.

But the show wasn’t quite ready for prime time in its second weekend of performances. Actors appeared to be tentative with Murphy Cross’ bubbly choreography, spotlights shifted too soon or too late, and the singable songs, orchestrated by Beckwith (who accompanied the taped score on his guitar), were sometimes preceded by noticeable pauses while the performers waited for their musical cues.

And 11-year-old lead Caitlyn Lauren, who alternates in the demanding title role with Ali Eagle, hadn’t yet managed to bring the pugnacious but vulnerable Littlest Witch to life. A fine singer, Lauren didn’t miss a line or a lyric, but she was too plainly concentrating on getting them right.

Still, this imaginative show is already more treat than trick. With some polishing up, it’ll be a dandy.

*

“The Littlest Witch,” Secret Rose Theatre, 11246 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood, Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. Ends Nov. 17. Adults, $10; children, $7. (818) 766-3691, Ext. 5. Running time: 50 minutes.