Stage Review
HTY play aimed at preschoolers features some quirky songs

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Theater Critic

Mark Lutwak at the Honolulu Theatre for Youth went back to a favorite childhood album, "Come and See the Peppermint Tree," a collection of quirky original tunes that continued to stick in his memory. He located their creator, secured permission, turned it over to the HTY creative staff, and the result is on tour to preschools this month, with public performances scheduled for McCoy Pavilion at Ala Moana Park.

Words and music are by Evelyn Dean DeBoeck, who made her living in the 1950s as a pianist and accompanist to several major modern dance companies. Not surprisingly, the songs make toddlers want to get up and shake their booties.

Cynthia See directs HTY company players Monica Cho and Nara Springer, who adopt preschool attitudes and dress the part in Casey Cameron's designer playclothes. The pair first warm up (and settle down) the audience with a few copycat exercises and give them a motivation to listen by promising they'll get a chance to use their moves later in the performance.

Then, it's off to search for the peppermint tree — but not without a string of distractions along the way.

Springer sometimes plays violin to accompany the recorded music, and both sing better than your average company actor. They also dance a bit on a Chinese ribbon number and in a spontaneous, hug-myself-all-over expression of uncontrollable 4-year-old happiness.

The songs are a bull's-eye in the preschool circle of interest: "My Shoes Went Walking Without My Feet," "I Found a Penny," "The Moon Came Out to Play All Around the Yard That Night."

Richard Schaefer's colorful props add variety: a pair of hand puppets, a kite in the shape of a purple crow, a slinky worm and a fish with glowing eyes.

For the finale, DeBoeck reveals that the peppermint tree exists in everyone's imagination. It was there all along, but most of us are looking too hard someplace else and fail to see what's inside.

The action plays out in front of a screen shaped like a small cottage — just the right size to roll up and pack along to a preschool.