A Mediocre Crew of Red-Nosed Pirates
A review of Bluenose
at Seattle Children’s Theatre
By Abbie B
What started out as a promising story of an endearing crew of red-nosed pirates and their encounter with a blue-nosed girl quickly became a rather mediocre performance. The biggest problems were the lack of a structured plot and clever humor. Although the majority of the audience members were still learning their ABC’s, even they got tired of the repeated physical humor. While the kids giggled at some bathroom jokes about underwear and poop, any other laughs were sparse, and the audience, even the adults, wasn’t entertained enough to sit still and keep quiet for more than 3 minutes at a time. This happened most often during the unbalanced serious portions of the plot, which dragged on without any comic relief for much too long.
Also, Bluenose tried very hard to add a moral to the story, but even the simple message about prejudice against people who are different than you was underdeveloped. As we were walking out of the theatre, it took my mother and me a few minutes to understand the message, after the confusing twist of Bluenose’s own prejudice in the final scene. We were both disappointed in this show, as our prior Seattle Children’s Theatre visits resulted in laughs and line-quoting. This visit to Bluenose ended with a confused discussion. When I asked her opinion on a certain portion of the show she chuckled, “Oh, I took a little nap during that part! I was just so bored!”
On a positive note, the children all seemed to be happy by the end and wanted to stay for the ever-popular question session, which is always a good sign. Also, the 4 actors were great, with lively performances and well rehearsed dancing, juggling, and even trampoline jumping. Furthermore, the set, costumes, and props were all fantastic and the sound effects coincided perfectly with all the actions, meaning the show was obviously well-rehearsed. Although Bluenose was lacking in many areas, the professionalism and actor’s performances were noteworthy.
By Abbie B
What started out as a promising story of an endearing crew of red-nosed pirates and their encounter with a blue-nosed girl quickly became a rather mediocre performance. The biggest problems were the lack of a structured plot and clever humor. Although the majority of the audience members were still learning their ABC’s, even they got tired of the repeated physical humor. While the kids giggled at some bathroom jokes about underwear and poop, any other laughs were sparse, and the audience, even the adults, wasn’t entertained enough to sit still and keep quiet for more than 3 minutes at a time. This happened most often during the unbalanced serious portions of the plot, which dragged on without any comic relief for much too long.
Also, Bluenose tried very hard to add a moral to the story, but even the simple message about prejudice against people who are different than you was underdeveloped. As we were walking out of the theatre, it took my mother and me a few minutes to understand the message, after the confusing twist of Bluenose’s own prejudice in the final scene. We were both disappointed in this show, as our prior Seattle Children’s Theatre visits resulted in laughs and line-quoting. This visit to Bluenose ended with a confused discussion. When I asked her opinion on a certain portion of the show she chuckled, “Oh, I took a little nap during that part! I was just so bored!”
On a positive note, the children all seemed to be happy by the end and wanted to stay for the ever-popular question session, which is always a good sign. Also, the 4 actors were great, with lively performances and well rehearsed dancing, juggling, and even trampoline jumping. Furthermore, the set, costumes, and props were all fantastic and the sound effects coincided perfectly with all the actions, meaning the show was obviously well-rehearsed. Although Bluenose was lacking in many areas, the professionalism and actor’s performances were noteworthy.
Bluenose plays at Seattle Children's Theatre through December 14th
for tickets and information, visit http://www.sct.org/
or call the box office at 206.441.3322
