About a boy

It wouldn't be a lie to say that the crowd at the Missoula Children's Theatre (MCT) performance of Pinocchio at Saco School Friday had a whale of time.

The nearly packed house in Saco gave no less than a dozen heart-felt belly laughs during the show as 38 thespians – from a variations of the students in many different grades – spent the better part of 20-hours practicing for the play during the week before the performance on Friday night.

The cast included MCT tour actor Matthew Hogan as Geppetto who looked to carve a wooden boy puppet named "Pinocchio" played by Christian Menge. Menge graced the stage with a booming delivery and Cheshire Cat grin for the entire night. The Blue Fairy, played by Jada Sudbrack, was graceful and elegant in her enactment while Chris DePuydt in the role of Stromboli was over the top and hilarious as the villain of the play.

Pinocchio's conscience, Jiminy Cricket, was portrayed by Chandler Pippen, and his role in the show was to save the wooden puppet who was continually getting himself in trouble and occasionally telling lies which in turn made his nose transform into a giant, red snout. The toy's in Geppetto's shop included a toy solider, baby dolls dressed in pink, blue and a polka dot schemes played by Hazel Sones, Royce Strobbe, Austin Bourland and Chase Albus.

The play was sharp and fast moving with many dance and song scenes including a maestro solo sang by Sudbrack. Pinocchio was eventually swindled by the duo of the Fox and Cat – played by Chayten Pippin and Challise Young – and Candlewick and his crew (Josh Salveson, Dylan Brown, Jacob Bland Bella Gehrke and Abby Yeska) to take a trek to Pleasure Island. It is at Pleasure Island that Stromboli is finally able to cut Pinocchio's strings before him and his "friends" are all turned into braying donkeys.

Through out the ordeal, the School Kids – played by Laytin Erickson, Jacob Brown, Blake Ozark, Ireland Mears, Sandra Sones, Laynee Simpson, Carter Pippen and Jessa Erickson – strolled onto the stage for various one-liners and dances and one of the highlights of the night was when the dolls Harlequin, Columbine and Scaramouche – played by Teagan Erickson, Josie Brown and Jaycee Erickson – were made to perform by the evil Stromboli who sported a Groucho Marx style nose and glasses with a wig that would make the most gaudy toupee –wearer blush.

The Urchins – Jamison Schaaf, Bailey Funk, Ty Murphy, Brady Albus, Jaydyn Erickson, Beau Sudbrack, Randy Gairrett, Brent Yeska, Adam McClellan and Dustin Ostrom – hit their marks and pounded each punch line when called on as a group or individually.

The entire play lasted 60-minutes and featured accompanist Chelsea Quinones playing music written by MCT co-founder Jim Caron and Michael McGill. Following the performance, Assistant Director Devon Salveson was acknowledged for the work he put in during the week and the entire cast was brought back out for a curtain call and to pose for pictures. The night was wrapped-up as the Rocky Road 4H Club sold pie and ice cream to a crowd which was clearly pleased with the show they'd just seen.