The Fractured Fairy Tales of The Surprising Story of the
Three Little Pigs Hit the RLT Audience's Funnybone

If the weather this Saturday or Sunday afternoon is as pretty as it was last Saturday, consider spending an hour outdoors watching The Surprising Story of the Three Little Pigs in Raleigh Little Theatre's Louise S. "Scottie" Stephenson Amphitheatre. If your "organization" includes one or more six-year-olds, take one of them with you. If not, consider going anyway.

Bryan Pridgen has directed an amusing production of Linda Daugherty's The Surprising Story of the Three Little Pigs. RLT has performances at 1 and at 4 p.m. this coming Saturday and Sunday, and this show is fun for theatergoers of all ages.

Cheryl Cleveland-Kannianen (as The Voice) begins narration with "Once upon a time...," and a trio of young actors begin acting out a "normal" storybook version of The Three Little Pigs. Eventually, The Voice will also begin "normal" versions of Three Billy Goats Gruff and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. However, all of these characters are self-aware. That is, they know that they are characters in a story; and they know how the story is supposed to go.

In fact, it seems that they have all "been here before." They start posing questions that border on the existential, they improvise, and they react to such "glitches" as a delay in the delivery of straw with which to build a house or the arrival of an unexpected character in their story.

Needless to say, things change. Pigs appear in the Goat story and vice versa, bags of straw and bundles of sticks appear in the Bears' front yard, a "For Sale" sign appears in front of a cottage, and so on. The Voice and her two Stagehands (Phillip Solano and Brynna Rosenburg) scramble to "fix" things, but they grow steadily and comically worse. The result is, total Fairy Tale Mayhem!

Younger audience members will enjoy the stories involved in "the story" as well as the twists that result from the ruptures and the cross-overs. Seasoned audience members will appreciate the theatricality, the metatheatricality, and the (almost-)Stoppardian and (almost-)Brechtian qualities inherent in the script. Everyone will get a chuckle out of the unlikely juxtapositions and the clever wordplay that results from situations like the interactions between one of the pigs and the goats. ("I'm not trying to get your goat" is just the tip of the iceberg.)

Be on the lookout for various characters appearing "in sheep's clothing," don't be surprised when the three "villains" hold a summit conference, and pay attention to the interactions that ensue each time that the protagonists of one tale encounter the villain from a different story. And watch out when certain characters come running off the stage and into the audience.

Harper Mullinix, Dorothy Reynolds, and Tristan Monson make cute pigs, and Ren Gallon is a comically threatening Wolf. Salem Andrus, Archil Megrelishvili, and Zoe Wright play together well as Goats who endeavor to avoid Jackson Morgan as a (somewhat neurotic) Troll.

Savannah Lange is a precious Goldilocks. Evelyn Brunelle and Tara Randol are entertaining as Baby and Mama Bear. Unfortunately, Jarred Pearce had taken ill and had to miss last Saturday's performances. Assistant stage manager Dan Bain (on 30 minutes' notice) filled in admirably, only having to consult his script on one occasion during the 4 p.m. show.

Costume designer Kahel Shum McRae decked out the characters appropriately for these fairy tales. I was most impressed by the Goats' costumes; Carra (my six-year-old granddaughter) liked Goldilocks' costume enough to want one for herself.

Scenic designers Hope Hammond and Shannon Clark deliver nicely, converting the amphitheater's stage to a series of localities in fairy tale land. And director Bryan Pridgen and stage manager Jeremy Vance team up to make these "fractured fairy tales" flow freely.

Stick around after the show and chat with the actors/characters. And then cap off your experience by taking a stroll through the Raleigh Rose Garden, adjacent to the amphitheater.

Linda Daugherty's THE SURPRISING STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS (In Person at 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 29th and 30th), a mashup of The Three Little Pigs, Three Billy Goats Gruff, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, directed by Bryan Pridgen, and starring Cheryl Cleveland-Kannianen as The Voice, Blais Blaze as Stagehand #1, Brynna Rosenburg as Stagehand #2/Mother Pig, Phillip Solano as Stagehand #3/Man with the Straw, Harper Mullinix as Pig #1, Dorothy Reynolds as Pig #2, Tristan Monson as Pig #3, Ren Gallon as a Wolf, Salem Andrus as Little Goat, Archil Megrelishvili as Middle Goat, Zoe Wright as Big Goat, Jackson Morgan as the Troll, Evelyn Brunelle as Baby Bear, Tara Randol as Mama Bear, Jarred Pearce as Papa Bear, and Savannah Lange as Goldilocks (Raleigh Little Theatre in the Louise S. "Scottie" Stephenson Amphitheatre in Raleigh). PROGRAM: http://raleighlittletheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Three-Little-Pigs-Program.pdf. VIDEOS: https://www.youtube.com/user/raleighlittletheatre. 2022-23 SEASON: https://raleighlittletheatre.org/shows-and-events/. THE PRESENTER: https://raleighlittletheatre.org/, https://www.facebook.com/RLT1936, https://www.instagram.com/RLT1936/, https://twitter.com/RLT1936, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh_Little_Theatre, and https://www.youtube.com/user/raleighlittletheatre. RLT PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/rltpodcast. THE VENUE: https://raleighlittletheatre.org/visit-us/seating-charts/. DIRECTIONS: https://raleighlittletheatre.org/visit-us/. MAPS/PARKING/TRANSIT: https://raleighlittletheatre.org/visit-us/maps-and-parking/. ACCESSIBILITY: https://raleighlittletheatre.org/visit-us/accessibility/. COVID REQUIREMENTS: https://raleighlittletheatre.org/reopening-rlt/. THE PLAY: https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/the-surprising-story-of-the-three-little-pigs. THE PLAYWRIGHT: https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/authors/profile/view/url/linda-daugherty. NOTE 1: All shows are wheelchair accessible, and assistive-listening devices are available for all shows. NOTE 2: Arts Access, Inc. of Raleigh will audio-describe the show's 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30th, performance. TICKETS: $17 ($13 children 12 and under), plus taxes and fees. Click here to buy tickets. INFORMATION: 919-821-3111 or BoxOffice@RaleighLittleTheatre.org. PLEASE DONATE TO: Raleigh Little Theatre.

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