COCA plans family shows
Fred Garbo and Daielmo Santos
“Laura Ingalls Wilder” will open the 2009-2010 COCA Family Theatre Series, productions of theater, music and dance designed for parents and children to enjoy together. The shows are presented in Founders’ Theatre at the Center of Creative Arts, 524 Trinity Avenue.
“Laura Ingalls Wilder” (Oct. 2-4), which comes from New Jersey’s ArtsPower theater, tells the story of the writer who related her family’s history in her series of enduring “Little House” books. (This show makes a nice companion piece to a musical version of “Little House on the Prairie” playing the Fox Theatre in November.)
Fred Garbo Inflatable Theatre Co. (Oct. 23-25) returns, with Garbo and ballerina Daielma Santos welcoming audiences to their colorful fantasy world. Next, Tall Stories, a London company, presents “Room on the Broom” (Nov. 6-8) a musical based on a popular children’s book.
Two dance shows follow. “TAP! with Jason Samuels Smith” (Nov. 21-22) features the Emmy-winning dancer, and COCA’s own Ballet Eclectica performs “The Little Dancer Travels through Time” (Dec. 11-13).
The year opens with Grammy-winning “Creole King” Terrance Simien performing ”Creole for Kidz” (Jan. 29-31). Then comes a Broadway tour of “A Year with Frog and Toad” (Feb. 26-28), based on Arnold Lobel’s charming books.
The season concludes with “Fairy Tales with Maestro Rob Kapilow” (March 5-7). The conductor, pianist Judith Gordon and the PickleShoes Dancers present their version of such familiar stories as “Cinderella” and “Pinocchio.”
The shows are usually presented at 7 p.m. on Fridays, at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. on Sundays. (There is no Friday show of “TAP!,” and no second show of “The Little Dancer” on Sunday.)
Subscriptions are available in two packages. The eight-show package, $109-$136, includes all Family Theatre productions. For the five-show package, $68-$85, theater-goers may choose which productions they’d like to see.
For a subscription or more information, call the COCA box office at 314-725-1834, extension 124.
Fred Garbo is the BEST!! His show alone is worth the price of a subscription. Don’t miss it! COCA is the only presenter that brings this incredible performer to St. Louis, and they consistently offer world-class entertainment for families with children.
Fred Garbo has performed in St. Louis a half-dozen times already, his act is old and tired. It seems COCA’s family season is a one-trick pony. COCA imports in the same (or similar) acts time-and-time again. The ticket prices are outrageous; especially for children and the dance shows they select are too often academic for anyone with a real pulse for entertainment. Does the person booking for COCA actually go and see theater in NYC, Atlanta, Toronto, DC and London? With COCA”s money and community backing, they should be the first to bring in Britain’s Got Talent winners DIVERSITY; or real Broadway winners like the Gazillion Bubble Show, Toxic Audio and even some of the new Blue Man Group’s work. COCA should invest some of their dollars with award winning local artists too. How many times can my kids, and soon grand children see Fred Garbo, Rockapella, Chinese Acrobats, and The Branson Pet Circus on COCA’s stage? I don’t call this world-class, I call it the same “hot air” from the cultural illiterate.