items tagged with Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

Judging by the children dancing in the aisles during Saturday’s performance, Circa ’21’s current children’s offering Diary of a Worm, a Spider, & a Fly is a hit with younger audience members. But the hour-long musical also has quite a few laughs for the adults.

When the kids weren’t laughing at playwright Joan Cushing’s fart jokes or Worm describing his sister as having a “face that looks like her butt,” I was laughing at what I assume are director Kimberly Furness’ additions of pop-culture references. My favorite was Worm and Fly singing along to “Carry on My Wayward Son” after being told to “Please enjoy this music while your party is reached” when they call Spider’s cell phone.

The Reader's chief theatre reviewer, Thom White, saw and wrote about 52 area stage productions in 2011. I saw 39 and reviewed 12. Obviously, during our second-annual breakfast chat on the Year in Theatre, there was a bit to talk about.

Before November 26, I didn’t know much about Junie B. Jones beyond her being the main character in a popular children’s book series by Barbara Park. With that in mind, I felt I needed to enlist the help of my family’s resident Junie B. expert, eight-year-old Madison, to adequately review the Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse’s production of Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. (Madison is, after all, the show’s target audience, as opposed to this 37-year-old, balding male.) I suspected that if she was pleased with the play, I would be, too.

On November 25, the Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse will debut Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, a holiday comedy based on one of the many children’s books featuring author Barbara Park’s feisty, funny, and unpredictable first-grader Junie B. Jones. It’s the second Junie B. title that Circa ’21 has staged in the past three years, and if you attend this new show and think you recognize its star from 2009’s Junie B. Jones & a Little Monkey Business, you do: Sunshine Ramsey will again be donning Junie’s dress to play a character some 25 years younger than the actress is.