[ATTENDED: November 23, 2012] Phineas and Ferb
Phineas and Ferb is one of the smartest, funniest kids shows around. It’s a show that I would watch by myself if I didn’t have a queue of things that I can’t watch with my kids as well. This live show has been bouncing around the area for months. It has played at least four locations in NY and NJ that I thought about going to, but I wasn’t really sure if it was worth the expense and effort. Then, it finally came to the State Theatre, with a mail flier that saved us 20%. Hard to say no.
So this is a Disney production. This means, among other things, that they take care of you while you wait for the show to start–they had a dancer ask questions and warm us all up. It was fun. They also had good production numbers and a very talented, anonymous cast.
Okay so the TV show is about two boys (with crazy heads) who are on summer vacation. They are looking for something awesome to do on this particular day and they wind up getting involved in some preposterously over the top plan (building a rollercoaster in their yard, creating a time machine, etc). It’s not like the show explains anything technical about how they do it–it’s not that kind of smart–but it really encourages creativity. Their older sister Candace is always trying to get them in trouble for their schemes, but she always fails (but they’re never really mean to her back, which I like).
The other aspect of the show is Perry the Platypus. Perry is their pet. But, unbeknownst to the boys, he is also a secret agent who is bent on stopping the evil Dr Doofenschmirtz, the evil doctor who creates some kind of “-inator” machine every episode which is designed to cause some kind of destruction in the tri-state area.
So how can this over the top cartoon translate to the stage? (more…)
I Just Read About That... 