The Pop Ups – Pasta! A Puppet Musical Review
March 4, 2011
If you want to see a show that is well produced in a fun, child friendly way, full of energy and contains silly silly songs, The Pop Ups – Pasta! A Puppet Musical is the show to take your preschool aged children to. This Sunday, Mishy, Babba, and I
attended the morning show of The Pop Ups at The Highway Performing Arts Spaces in Santa Monica. This was our first time at The Highway Performing Arts and I hope they host more and more family theatre because it’s a charming space – with
a lovely tree covered in knitted wear near the entrance. Mishy wondered if the tree was cold.
The Pop Ups is the brain child of two Brooklyn based musicians, Jacob Stein and Jason Rabinowitz who have endurance triathletic endurance. They made a smash appearance last year locally, and they recently made an appearance in the Los Angeles area over the Thanksgiving holidays. This time, they were in town for a four performance showcase. They would love to be signed up to do a television show – hint hint. They have the makings of being incredibly successful children’s performers. Why? Because they love children and it’s so clear they love what they do.
What makes The Pop Ups special? Their energy and exuberance at being surrounded by children. They include all
audience members in their journey of finding ingredients to make the best pasta sauce in the world so they could get their chef’s hats. The story is of them journeying to various places in Brooklyn by different modes of transportation and their encounters with new friends. The plot is simple. The puppetry is fun and silly. Their songs are contagious and some songs are reminiscent of Coldplay – if Coldplay were Muppets.
If there were to be a sequel – The Pops Pasta! A Puppet Musical Two, or a title much more creative which I am sure they could come up with, I would love for them to go deeper and further with their message of fun and perhaps, add in some elements of education in a non pandering way. Of course, there is a place for just laughing and watching two grown men entertain
and win the hearts of children. Mishy loved this show. My husband did too.
Details:
The Pop Ups
For my East Coast readers, they will be performing at The Soho Playhouse from March 5th 2011 to mid April. They are performing every Saturday at 11AM.
For my Los Angeles based readers, The Pop Ups will be returning in the summer! I’ll keep everyone posted.
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