Like many homes, ours chimes with the sound of countless readings of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" -- by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond -- and its related books. It's not a text-heavy book, so I wondered how First Stage Milwaukee would make an entire show out of it.
But, the adaptation, which runs about an hour, is fun and keeps kids on the edge of their seats.
To flesh out the book, First Stage added a bit of backstory and where author Numeroff explained an action in a dozen words or so, First Stage riffs on Bond's illustrations to fuel the action.
Whether or not creating an adaptation like this is easy, First Stage made it look that way. That's likely a testament to the skill of the company's actors -- in this production Maxwell Zupke as the boy and Jordan Ahnquist as the mouse -- artistic staff and crew.
The theater at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut St., is intimate and informal, with carpet squares for sitting on the floor and three walls of bi-level carpeted "bleachers" for kids and parents.
The production -- part of FSM's First Steps series for kids ages 3 to 6 -- had kids and their parents watching in rapt attention and laughing out loud.
There are five performances left -- Nov. 21 and 22 -- but tickets may already be sold out for most of them, so call soon.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
