[NEohioPAL] Review of “Disney’s My Son Pinocchio” at Mercury Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

Mercury accentuates the positive in ‘Disney’s My Son Pinocchio’



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, American Theatre Critics Association



Director Pierre-Jacques Brault is at his best when he finds the essence of a story and simplifies the storytelling to reveal it.  Which is exactly what he does with Mercury Theatre’s current production of “Disney’s My Son Pinocchio.” 



The musical, written by David Stern, is a reimagining of the 1940 Walt Disney animated classic with new songs by Grammy Award-winning songwriter Stephen Schwartz added to the film’s memorable “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “I’ve Got No Strings,” “Give a Little Whistle” and others by Leigh Harline and Ned Washington. 



The story revolves around a living puppet built by a childless toymaker who, with a blue fairy as his guide and a cricket as his conscience, attempts to prove himself worthy of becoming a real boy.



The origin of the story can be found in the Italian children's novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet,” written by Carlo Collodi in 1883, which is significantly darker than what Disney had in mind.  The novel has the puppet reject the adoring father figure who created him, let down the good hearted fairy, and ignore the wise counsel of the cricket.  Pinocchio ends up in the hands of his enemies, the Fox and the Cat, who bind his arms, pass a noose around his throat, and hang him from the branch of an oak tree.



“Disney’s My Son Pinocchio” foregoes the whole hanging thing, but it does go a bit darker than the animated film, including a song titled “Pinocchio’s Nightmare.” It is this darkness that Brault unceremoniously disregards, choosing instead to embrace the Disneyesque essence of the work and accentuate the positive in this production. 



For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/
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