“Leonardo! A Wonderful Show about a Terrible Monster”

[rating=5] If you want to get your little ones into theater, I have a great prescription for you-Chicago Children’s Theatre, located downtown will wow them with their plays, their classes and their education. I had not been to a presentation there since they moved t their current location at 100 S. Racine, but today, with my junior reviewer Tomaso Casati ( and his dad) we attended a wonderful show entitled Leonardo! A Wonderful Show about a Terrible Monster”- part of the Manual Cinema Presents program. For Tomaso, this was his second theatrical production, having done “The Wizard of Oz” at Marriott Lincolnshire.

When entering the Chicago Children’s Theatre ( by the way, they have a parking lot adjacent to the building) they make sure you are occupied and learning right away. The Casatis arrived before me and were eated at a table in the main room. Options to draw and or get into shadow puppetry, which is what Manual Cinema shines at were easily accessible. When I entered the room, Tomaso was busy making the puppets do things on the wall behind him. He was learning about something new even before the show began.

When we entered the theater itself, we were able to see that there were two distinct sections. One was a giant screen where we would see what the four performers were about to create and the other area was the tech part where the actors and puppets would tell the story with the aid of their Narrator ( I think that was Lilly). There were two books by Mo Willens that were used to create this amazingly brilliant 45 minutes of entertainment and education. I think 45 minutes is perfect for the many three year-to 6 year olds in the audience. To be honest the kids were more into the stories than their parents were anyway.

Using puppets, song, video and actual puppets the audience learns about friendship. The monsters involved, Leonardo and in the second story Frankenthaler turn out to be loveable and become friends as do the two humans Kerry and  Sam. Sam and Kerry are the biggest scaredy -cats in the area and as it turns out they become best friends as well.

The experience is amazing and a perfect way to introduce the arts to your little ones.

Saturdays:9:30am & 11:30am

Sundays:9:30am & 11:30am

Show Type: Childrens

Box Office: 773-227-0180.

www.chicagochildrenstheatre.org