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What you and I would consider an impossibility became a delightful challenge for director, set designers, actors and actresses at the Arden Theater in Old City. They brought James & The Giant Peach to life as seamlessly as if it had been originally conceived for the stage.

David Wood’s gentle adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book is an opportunity for anyone with kids to expose them to clever, innovative theater with material that is likely already familiar to most of them. ‘Familiar’ does NOT mean they’ll miss going on a new adventure, as this peach is as fresh and tasty a bit of theater as you can imagine.

Whit MacLaughlin directed this gem and along with set designer Matt Saunders, places us in front of, on top of and inside the peach. Video and sound designer Jorge Cousineau gives us a new dimension by crafting and projecting action and backgrounds onto giant, amoebic screens behind the stage, reminiscent of Czech animation pioneer Karel Zeman’s work with film in the 1950s.

For parents familiar with good children’s theater, you will be well pleased. For those parents who’ve somehow never gotten around to taking the kids to live theater, you couldn’t ask for a better first experience. Kids will feel they’ve made a friend in James William Ijames’ James. Stephanie English and Harum Ulmer, Jr., landed the plum roles of the wicked aunties, and they deliver outrageous ham in a wonderfully satisfying way. The rest of the noteworthy ensemble cast is strong across the boards

Some twofer types discounts are available for certain performances, so explore their site and bargain hunt! A word of warning for parents or guardians of young children who’ve experienced serious trauma or major loss in their lives… pull-no-punches-Dahl wrote in that James’ parents are eaten by a rhinoceros in the beginning of the play, and this is given a humorous yet somewhat graphic interpretation by the pull-no-punches-Arden!

Arden Theatre
40 N 2nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 922-8900
www.ardentheatre.org