Jack and the Beanstalk
Opening Night: December 6, 2017
Closing: December 23, 2017
Theater: Abrons Arts Center Henry Street Settlement
This holiday season is the time to experience a radical, joyful, uproarious family extravaganza promoting equality in all forms, featuring a spectacular cast of 20 talented Lower East Siders. Written by disabled actor and writer Mat Fraser and directed by feminist art star Julie Atlas Muz, Jack & the Beanstalk brings tap-dancing animals, puppets, pie fights, pop music, cross-dressing characters and the most glittery of sets to the Lower East Side. This riotous all-ages morality tale brings together the whole family. Now more than ever, New York City needs family theater that is inherently irreverent and lightly political—with good eventually triumphing over evil. Get ready to cheer the heroes, boo the villains and look out behind you!
This show is appropriate for ages 5 and up! BUY TICKETSREAD THE REVIEWS:
December 11, 2017
America has an acute case of Anglophilia, but it’s a highly selective one. We love “Downton Abbey,” Shakespeare and John Oliver but studiously ignore prawn-cocktail-flavored crisps, Cliff Richard and pantomime. The new Off Broadway show “Jack and the Beanstalk,” presented at the Abrons Arts Center, may help rectify the situation regarding panto, a vaudeville-derived, proudly lowbrow genre that happily endorses an anything-goes approach.
In Britain, pantos are beloved Christmas staples delighting children and adults alike thanks to a cartoonish mix of slapstick, drag, clowning, recycled pop songs, groan-inducing puns and active audience participation; suggestive double entendres are also included for the parents’ benefit.
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