"Fractured Fairy Tale" Performed Today in Maplewood

“Little Red Rosie and the Three Big Pigs” plays today.

Probably every kid who has ever heard the story of the Three Little Pigs has thought “what if the wolf wasn’t so big and bad?” Maplewood resident and playwright Jeff Larkin has illustrated how the little pigs' story and others would play out if the wolf in question was a good guy with an interest in environmental construction. “It’s kind of a fun, fractured fairy tale,” Larkin said of his creation “Little Red Rosie and the Three Big Pigs.” The play will be performed today at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Park.  It debuted yesterday at 5 at Cameron Field in South Orange. The wolf isn’t the only fairy tale character skewed in the play. “This piece is a mash-up of the Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs story through the conduit …

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VIDEO: 'Little Red Rosie and the Three Big Pigs' Rehearsal

The show will be performed on Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. in Cameron Field.

Written by local playwrights Jeff Larkin and Nancy S. Chu, "Little Red Rosie and the Three Big Pigs" is described by its creators as a "fractured fairytale." Playing in both South Orange and Maplewood, the play is a mash-up of several popular children's tales, told with a skewed sensibility. The performances are scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at  Cameron Field in South Orange and Thursday, Aug. 20, at 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Park in Maplewood. During Patch's visit, the cast and crew were hard at work the day before the show opened. We recorded video of a run-through of the closing dance number. Check it out.

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Popping and Locking at Break Dance Workshop

B-boys take to the floor in 4-day break dance instruction.

In the third break dance workshop of this summer held at Stories in Motion on Springfield Avenue, five young men energetically participated in learning the basics of headspinning, backspinning, hittin' and tickin' under the instruction of award-winning dancer/choreographer Anthony-Cave Harris, aka SOLO. With the goal of mastering the essential moves of break dancing and creating their own choreography, the boys performed their individual freestyle routines as well as group performances, encouraging each other while trying to expand their individual repertoire. Mr. Harris, or SOLO, has been a dancer and choreographer for the past ten years. He created the Envy Dance Group, a break dance, pop, hip-hop dance company that has been in existence…

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Rock the House Heads Outdoors

Alex Silberman on his group's efforts to save the local music scene, and Alan Paul shows why it's worth saving.

The folks behind Rock the House were bothered by the lack of music venues in Maplewood, so they started their own irregular concert series, in whatever space was available. But they didn't count on the popularity of the series that culminated Friday night in an outdoor Roch the Hill concert to finish off the township's summer concert program. Patch videographer Barry Kaufman talked to Rock the House founder Alex Silberman, and captured opening act Alan Paul.

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Theater Review: 'Menopause The Musical'

Running at SOPAC through Sept. 27, 'Menopause' features broad humor and some crowd-pleasing musical numbers.

If audience reaction is any indication, Menopause The Musical, running at the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) through Sept. 27, is a smash hit. Even before the performance begins, members of a packed house on a Wednesday evening seem giddy with anticipation, buying “flash fans” from vendors in the aisles and comparing notes on where and how many times they’ve seen the show before.  Nearly 11 million people in 250 cities around the world have attended performances of Menopause since it opened in a 76-seat former perfume shop in Orlando in 2001, though some of these are clearly double or even triple dippers. For SOPAC, the production's two-month run will be the longest in the venue’s three-year history. Harold Pinter it ain’t. …

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The Town Hall Dancers

The Inspirational Dance hijack the Township Committee meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 4 with the music of Michael Jackson and intricate choreography.

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VIDEO: Paper Mill's "Little House on the Prairie" at Main Library

Kids relived the American frontier settler experience.

In conjunction with the forthcoming national tour of the musical Little House on the Prairie to be performed at the Paper Mill Playhouse, the Maplewood Library Children's Department presented an interactive theater experience depicting the life of American settlers during the mid-19th century as told through the character of Laura Wilder Ingalls, author of Little House. Sandy Marino, a theater-teaching artist at the Playhouse, assumed the character of Ms. Ingalls. As Ingalls, she led the audience in a series of role playing, reading and dancing activities to have them experience what life might have been like during the days the settlers moved westward. When first told that over 120 children had signed up to attend the performance, Ms. …

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