"Out of the gate and off for a walk went
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy"
And walk he did, right on to the stage right here in Singapore!
It was with great anticipation that we went to catch the opening show of Hairy Maclary & Friends earlier this evening. My kids have been acquainted with Hairy Maclary and gang for some time now, thanks to their Godma who introduced them to Lynley Dodd's books. So they were understandably looking forward to seeing the whole crew in the flesh. I, on the other hand was most curious to see how Hairy Maclary was to be translated to the stage. Most of the charm of the stories comes from the selctively-repetitive-but-always-delightful rhythmic rhyming verse that the littlest ones love and which and encourages them to join in. Would that charm be lost in translation?
I was glad to discover that it wasn't. The production found its answer in the use of music. I knew it was going to be good when we walked in to find a keyboardist on stage playing live. Each story was told with a wonderful catchy tune, ably performed by the actors to live music. I'm still humming Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy as I type!
And of course, there were the dogs. The kids squealed in delight as Hairy Maclary and each of his canine friends bounded their way onto the stage. Even if you were not familiar with the characters at the start of the show, I'm sure you will be at the end of it as the audience was encouraged to shout out their names, point out their pictures and join to perform the individual actions for each dog. Just in case you need an introduction, here's the crew:
The show was highly interactive from the start, which was something that my children absolutely enjoyed. Miss Plum and Samuel Stone did a great job getting the audience to shout, point clap and stamp along. I also enjoyed not having to shush them, though I did have to make Noey sit down at one point when he got too excited and stood on his seat. Definitely good fun for kids 2+ and up!
I think the only thing that we were disappointed about was that there wasn't a chance to get up close with Hairy and his friends at the end of the show. I had to stop Mei a couple of times in her attempts to climb over the seats in front of us because she wanted to "pat the doggies, Mummy!" Folks in the front row did manage to pat Hairy just before he disappeared off stage so that's something you might want to think about when choosing seats!
There are only 6 more shows left for Hairy Maclary and Friends this weekend, so do get your tickets soon if you haven't!
Ticketing and Show Information
Season: 10 to 12 October 2014
Venue: Drama Centre Theatre, National Library Building
Perfomance Times: Friday 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am, 2pm, 4.30pm
Ticket Prices: $62 (Cat 1), $52 (Cat 2), $42 (Cat 3), $35 (Cat 4) (Quote ABA2014 and get 10% off all tickets!)
Booking: Sistic at sistic.com.sg or calling 63485555
Do check out www.hairymaclary.com to learn more about Hairy Maclary and friends. You might also like to check out the Hairy Maclary books by Lynley Dodd, in particular these ones, which the tales in this performance were based:
- Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy
- Schnitzel von Krum's Basketwork
- Hairy Maclary's Bone
- Hairy Maclary's Hat Tricks
- Scarface Claw
- Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack
There are also plenty of readings of Hariy Maclary which can be found on Youtube if you need some help getting acquainted! (Or if you would like someone else to read a book to your kids for a change!)
Enjoy!
*We were invited to watch this show for review purposes, which we did so gladly as we love Hairy Maclary! All opinions remain authentically our own.
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