Coterie "James and the Giant Peach" review by JLin

A Peachy Performance

Rating: 4

James and the Giant Peach

The Coterie Theatre

The Coterie's "James and the Giant Peach" was a delightful spectacle, entertaining the audience with shadow puppets, quirky songs, and a truly wacky cast of characters. This is definitely one worth taking the kids to.

Although I have never read Roald Dahl's book, I have seen the film adaptation so I was already familiar with the story when I went into the theatre: James, a miserable orphan living with two abusive aunts, has a run in with some magic that starts him off on a great adventure inside a giant peach with a group of giant talking insects. The characterizations of James' crazy companions stuck pretty faithfully to those that were portrayed in the movie (Centipede was a loud-mouth from New York, Miss Spider was a refined French woman, etc.)

At this particular performance, James was played by Ryan Emmons, a young newcomer to the Coterie stage. I was underwhelmed by his performance, but there are many factors to consider when contemplating the portrayal of this character. James is just a little boy, so he must be played by a young actor - this implies less experience in the field than his fellow cast mates. He is also British and Emmons is NOT so he was having to work with an accent that is unnatural to him. Finally, compared to the rest of the characters, James is just kind of boring. He has to play the straight man; Emmons didn't have much to work with. So, this time around, I wasn't wowed but I'm sure that with continued experience and exposure this young actor could really take off.

All of James' companions were extraordinarily well cast and played off of each other beautifully. The show stoppers, however, were Ron Megee (Aunt Spiker/Earthworm) and Matt Weiss (Aunt Sponge/Centipede). These two had amazing chemistry (if you can call constantly being at each others throats, regardless of which character they were playing, chemistry) and had me laughing myself to tears. Though this is a children's show, Megee and Weiss made sure that the adults were enjoying themselves as well, throwing in clever ad libs to give the "big kids" a break from the more juvenile humor. Special praise should be given to Weiss in particular - he not only had to wear a fat suit to play Aunt Sponge, but his Centipede costume weighted around 50 pounds! Kudos Matt!

Speaking of costumes...wow. They were perfect! Making people look like insects while still maintaining their humanity is no easy task. Costume designer Lauren Roark and her team are to be commended for a job well done.

Overall, this show was well packaged and a success. There were a few instances where light and sound cues were off but the performers handled it fine. The use of shadow puppets and silhouettes for certain parts of the story were simple, yet effective, and the kids seemed to love it.

Congrats to the Coterie on another great show! 4 out of 5.