By Heidi Sutton
Main Street in Smithtown was overrun by a sea of children dressed in their best pink attire last Saturday afternoon as they lined up to see the Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts’ latest offering, the ever popular “Pinkalicious The Musical.”
The play, based on the first in a series of children’s books by sisters Elizabeth and Victoria Kann, tells the story of Pinkalicious Pinkerton, a little girl who loves to eat pink cupcakes and adores everything pink. “It’s a color like no other!” she exclaims.
One day, despite her parent’s warnings, Pinkalicious eats one too many of the sweet treat and wakes up the next morning with Pinkatitis — a condition that turns her pink from head to toe, giving a whole new meaning to “you are what you eat.” A visit to the doctor confirms the rare affliction that can only be cured with a healthy diet of green food. Will Pinkalicious follow the doctor’s orders or will she remain “a perfectly positive hue” of pink forever? Can one live on cupcakes alone?
Directed by Tommy Ranieri, the five-member teenage cast delivers a well-paced and entertaining performance with lots of audience participation. Allison Lane is terrific as Pinkalicious, playing the part with just the right amount of perkiness, and is quickly adored by the young audience members. Anthony Panarello, who clearly loves being on stage and in the spotlight, plays a delightful Mr. Pinkerton; and Brittany Hughes, as the cellphone-addicted Mrs. Pinkerton, shines. David Reyes plays the role of Peter, Pinkalicious’ annoying brother, with confidence; and Colleen Curry tackles the dual role of Pinkalicious’ best friend Alison and Dr. Wink with ease.
As with any musical, the songs, composed by John Gregor, are the heart of the show. With wonderful costumes by Ronald Green III, standouts include “Cupcake Dream,” where Pinkalicious dreams her family and best friend are pink cupcakes, and “Buzz Off,” where Pinkalicious is mistaken for a pink flower by a bunch of bees.
The wonderful set by Tim Golebiewski, from a bedroom and kitchen to the doctor’s office, is just the frosting on the cupcake.
In the end, the moral of the story is that too much of a sweet thing is never good. You may not turn pink, but you’ll get sick, and, although green vegetables may not be your favorite food, they are good for you and you should eat them. Oh, and you can’t get sick from loving the color pink.
So grab the kiddies and take them to a performance of “Pinkalicious The Musical” — they’ll be tickled pink!
The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 East Main St., Smithtown will present “Pinkalicious The Musical” on Saturdays at 2 p.m. and Sundays at 11 a.m. through Aug. 19. Running time is 1 hour and 15 minutes with intermission and booster seats are available. Meet the entire cast in the lobby for photos and autographs after the show. Children’s theater continues with “Mary Poppins Jr.” from Sept. 15 to Oct. 28 and “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” from Nov. 17 to Dec. 30. All seats are $15. To order, call 631-724-3700 or visit www.smithtownpac.org.
With book by Ben Elton, the story takes place 300 years in the future in a vague dystopian world where all music but that which is produced by the corporation is banned. All those living on the iPlanet, as it is called, exist under the thumb of the Globalsoft Corporation, headed by the stiff-necked Khashoggi (Dylan Bivings) and the raucous Killer Queen (the-great-as-always Brianne Boyd). Two young rebels, Galileo (Andrew Murano) and Scaramouche (Danielle Nigro) are captured by Globalsoft right out of high school for being too out of the mainstream. This leads them on a quest to find the rebels called The Bohemians and then to find the true meaning of rock and roll and set the world free.
