The Cardinal Stage Company opens their Cardinal for Kids Series with Mo Willems' Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale. Its Willems' own adaptation of his popular "cautionary tale" with music by award winning composer Michael Silversher.
Ben Abbott who appeared in Cardinal's Annie and last summer was featured in the Indiana Festival Theatre's Taming of the Shrew and You Can't Take It with You plays the role of the heroic Dad. "Actually, it starts out pretty innocently," he says. "All I've got to do is take the laundry, my daughter Trixie with her stuffed toy to the Laundromat. Trixie is at that incredible stage for language when she talks and sings all the time, but is totally unintelligible. It can be a very funny and frustrating time for parents. Tragedy, or near tragedy occurs when we realize that Knuffle Bunny is in the washer. That's when my heroism kicks in."
Christine O'Grady is back with Cardinal for the third time. She was the choreographer for Oliver and for A Christmas Carol. This time she's the choreographer and also takes on the role of director. "Actually, it's pretty natural," O'Grady says." In my choreography, I've always tried to tell or follow a story. For Knuffle Bunny the music is very important. Brian Samarzea is our music director. Michael Silversher's songs for the show are very lively and help to keep the story moving. As Ben said, Trixie isn't quite at the full language stage and there's one neat song that is delightfully total gibberish."