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Ahoy, Maties!
(Ladies?)
By Laurel Graeber, The New York Times
Friday, October 29, 2004
“The Pirates of
the Caribbean” may have been the first
Hollywood blockbuster to include a female
brigand, but commendable as that was that
was, the much smaller Manhattan Children’s
Theater has made an even bigger splash: an
all-woman “Treasure Island.”
Adapted and
directed by Bruce Merrill, this “Treasure
Island” begins in the bedroom of Jenni (Zoe
Canner), who is enthralled by Robert Louis
Stevenson’s pirate classic. Although her
sister (Jessica Underwood) feels that pirate
tales are worthwhile only if they star
Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, Jenni has
other ideas. She falls asleep and dreams a
swashbuckling adventure in which she is Jim
Hawkins, Stevenson’s enterprising cabin boy
and narrator, and her sister and several
other women are either heroic seafarers or
scheming buccaneers. (Female characters are
as scare in the book as men are onstage.)
The ensemble,
which also includes Robyn Berg, Mandy
Bedbury, Crystal Lisbon and Rena Krumholz,
proves that you don’t need a Y chromosome to
shiver a few timbers. And while they play
men effectively, the actresses rely on
feminine movement when the occasion
requires. Storm-tossed waves and ghostly
fantasies are portrayed through interludes
of ballet. And although the production does
not shy away from muskets and fisticuffs,
the violence takes place in slow motion,
emphasizing that the story is a thrilling
dream, not a ghoulish nightmare.
With its
sophisticated vocabulary and lengthy
exposition—often straight from the novel—the
staging is a slow voyage for the very
young. But those of school age will enjoy
Jenni’s/Jim’s exploits matching wits with
Long John Silver. They may even be inspired
to chart the literary waters that Stevenson
pioneered.
“Treasure
Island” through Nov. 7 at Manhattan
Children’s Theater, 380 Broadway, fourth
floor, two blocks south of Canal Street,
TriBeca, (212) 352-3101. Saturdays and
Sundays at noon and 2 p.m. Tickets: $15;
ages 2 through 16 and 65+, $10.
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