Connecting Acadiana: The Daily Advertiser

Sunday, October 14, 2007 'CAJUN RIDING HOOD' NOW A NEW YORK CITY MUSICAL by Chere Coen Mike Artell's children's book,Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood, has been adapted to the stage by the New York Musical Theater Festival and opened at the 45th Street Theater this week in New York City, according to theNew York Times. "Almost everything about the show is hot: the setting (the Louisiana bayou), the music (with peppy zydeco and steamy jazz), the dancing (lots of tango moves) and, most of all, the fiery Cajun sauce that plays a pivotal role in the plot," writes theTimes' Laurel Graeber in her column, Spare Times: For Children. Written by Joan Cushing, the play's Petite Rouge is a little duck who visits her ailing grandmère with a harmonica-playing cat named TeJean. The wolf is portrayed as Claude, a scheming alligator with a taste for fine cuisine. "Directed and choreographed by Michael J. Bobbitt,Petite Rouge provides all the satisfaction of a zesty jambalaya, with a grandmother who knows ninja moves and a grand finale that has the entire cast playing spoons," Graeber concluded. The Washington Post wrote this of the musical, "With the exuberance of a Mardi Gras float wheeling through the Big Easy, writer and composer Joan Cushing has turned a 2001 picture book into a clever stage production whose tunes explode with Louisiana zest!" One dollar from each ticket sold will benefit Musicians' Village/New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. For information, visit wwwnymf.org.