Cautionary Tales for Adults and The Many Adventures of Trixie Tickles
Source Theatre
Remaining Performances:
Sunday, July 22, 9:30 pm
Monday, July 23, 7 pm
Saturday, July 28, midnight
They say: “Two mini-musicals with songs ranging from smoky cabaret to frothy pop. First, an unhinged librarian teaches several unsuspecting adults about the injustices of life. Next, a high-strung children’s TV star learns valuable lessons of her own, like ‘being pretty is all that matters.’ Deliciously inappropriate and filled with guilty pleasures.”
Trey’s take: Unapologetically sophomoric diptych parodies library story hour, then the Blues Clues school of kiddie-TV edutainment. Script and songs are sufficiently wise-ass to keep the hipsters chuckling (when they’re sure nobody’s looking), but it’s the staging that’s inspired: Check the crudely drawn (and cheerfully crude) “Cautionary Tales” storybook illustrations on the overhead projector, and don’t let the downstage clowning on Trixie’s first day of school distract you from what Teacher’s got goin’ on on the blackboard.
See it if: You haven’t finished jeering at the Establishment this week.
Skip it if: You are now or ever have been the Man.