It’s fascinating to see the original with its plethora of new characters and situations, although this version perhaps tries to do a little too much with such a dizzying number of scenes and characters scampering quickly through, leaving the plot line and the characters a tad rough. In play form it might work best to spend more time on the main characters and a handful of the supporting characters as the Disney version did. Yet that dizzying number of creatures and characters that Pinocchio meets has an appeal of their own – from the devious Fox and Cat (Chelsey Clair and Phillip Greenberg) to a helpful dolphin (Skyler Nelson), a marmot and an amusing snail (Casey Jaquez), a colorful parrot (Lauren Green), a firefly (Kara Tsukashima), a pigeon (Joanna Gallardo), and countless more – an opportunity for young actors to be animals they will probably never get to portray again, and a magnificent opportunity for Costume Designer Clark Mires to display his talents.

Ben Gammage stars as the stringless and mischievous marionette who has to be a good boy if he ever wants to be a real boy. It’s not going to be easy! The moment his loyal papa Geppetto (Wes Perry) teaches him how to walk, he’s off and running, laughing at his slower papa all the way down the street. So begins his many adventures of lying his way out of school and other boring things like that in order to have fun – although that fun keeps seeming to end him up in a good deal of trouble as when he gets talked into going to Toyland by his friend Candlewick (Matthew Maretz) and ends up literally making an ass of himself. 

Ben brings to the part a charming smile and style that lets him often get what he wants, as well as a devilish little grin when preparing for his more mischievous moments. The only character that his charms never fools is The Talking Cricket (Sophie Vener), a no-nonsense, eternally moralizing cricket with a cool and confident attitude, though she pays for it when Pinocchio, who doesn’t at all like what The Talking Cricket says, lets her know about it with a thump on the head.

Pinocchio finds a little more sympathy from The Blue Fairy (Erin Petersen). Her biggest punishment for Pinocchio’s wrongdoing is to make his nose grow when he lies (creatively portrayed on the stage!). In a way this Blue Fairy actually has a more intriguing role in the play than in the Disney movie. She begins as a young girl whom Erin amusingly plays as being a bit more infatuated with her beautiful blue hair than she is in saving Pinocchio from his latest misadventure. She initially sees Pinocchio as sort of a younger brother, but again Pinocchio takes a wrong path and they don’t meet again for a long time. When finally their paths cross again, Pinocchio recognizes her as an old lady with blue hair, and she becomes in a sense his mother as opposed to his sister.

Performs through November 9, 2003.

Rob Hopper
San Diego Playbill

Pinocchio: