
by Terrance McArthur
Take a book of fairy tales (Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, etc.), rip out the pages, put them in a blender, add three scoops of puns, and flip the switch. When you’re finished, you might have A Walk in the Woods, the Enchanted Playhouse production now playing at the Main Street Theatre in Visalia through October 21.

by Destiney Warren
Everyone loves Lion King. I mean it has everything: romance, adventure, plots against kings, and even a little family drama, all while being a cute Disney movie the whole family can enjoy. Children’s Musical Theaterworks takes Disney’s Lion King Jr and presents a musical that everyone can enjoy as well—whether you have a kid in the cast or not. My boyfriend and I didn’t know anyone in the show, and we still had a great night.

by Lorie Lewis Ham
Most of us are familiar with the old Hans Christian Anderson Fairytale the Princess and the Pea–especially the part about a young woman who claimed to be a real princess, and how the Queen gave her a test of whether she could feel a pea under 20 mattresses–if she could, then she was a real princess and fit to marry the prince.

by Sandra Murphy
Written by Dorothy Wills-Raftery and illustrated by Michele Littler, both books are delightful for children or Siberian Husky lovers. The first tells the tale of Gibson, the alpha leader of a family of five Siberian Huskies.

by Lorie Lewis Ham
Everyone knows the story of the three little pigs, right? A big bad wolf huffs and puffs and blows their house down–or is that the real story? This weekend at the Enchanted Playhouse in Visalia, they presented a very different version of the story told from the perspective of the “Big Bad” Wolf.

by Terrance Mc Arthur
“Conjunction Junction, What’s your function?”
“I’m just a Bill, Sitting here on Capitol Hill.”
“We, The People, in order to form a more perfect union….”
Okay, confess. How many of you are singing along as you read this? If you are, you should head over to The Voice Shop, 1296 N. Wishon Ave, for Shine! Theatre’s Schoolhouse Rock Live Jr.

by Lorie Lewis Ham
If you have kids and you would like to introduce them to theatre, or you have kids that already love theatre, I highly recommend attending a show at the Enchanted Playhouse in Visalia. They produce shows that are great for the whole family to see together, and especially fun for kids. It’s also a great place for kids to get a taste of being in theatre.

by Sheryl Wall
The Good Dinosaur is the newest Disney/Pixar film. It is about an Apatosaurus dinosaur named Arlo who is afraid of everything and he wants to make his mark on the world like his brother and sister have. However, he finds it difficult to overcome his fears.

by Jessica Ham
Check out Jessica Ham’s video review of the new family movie Minions!

by Terrance Mc Arthur
Mr. Fox is a thief. He is a thief without a tail, thanks to the local farmers, but he is a fox with a family, friends, and big plans, in Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox, adapted for the stage by Debbie Metzler. It’s onstage at Visalia’s Enchanted Playhouse through May 2.

by Terrance Mc Arthur
The Secret Garden at the Enchanted Playhouse in Visalia. Don’t keep it a secret.
It’s not like it’s a new story; Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote it in 1910. It’s not like it’s unknown; there are several movie versions, television adaptations, and a Broadway musical based on the tale. What it is like is a friendly story that has been around for ages because it’s a friendly story about the power of love and kindness to make a difference in the lives of people.

by Terrance Mc Arthur
In The Adventures of Peter Cottontail at Visalia’s Enchanted Playhouse, many familiar stories blend together to tell the story of Peter Rabbit and his battles with a wolf family. Brer Rabbit’s briar patch makes an appearance, the House-of-Bricks Pig’s time-shifting gambit is used, and Hans Christian Anderson’s “Big Claus and Little Claus” becomes a plot source. There’s even “playing possum” with no possums in sight. It’s a festival of the familiar…but that’s a good thing. You can enjoy the old ideas and some clever twists of the new.

by Terrance Mc Arthur
Jay Ward and Bill Scott.
Those were magic names of my childhood, names responsible for Crusader Rabbit, Fractured Flickers, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle, Super Chicken, Dudley Do-Right, Aesop & Son, Fractured Fairy Tales, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and…Mr. Peabody & Sherman. There have been movie attempts to recapture that magical style in the past (George came close), but now it’s time for Mr. Peabody & Sherman, a CGI-animated feature (also available in 3-D), directed by Rob (The Lion King) Minkoff.

by Terrance Mc Arthur
The Main Street Theatre at 307 E. Main in Visalia has a wondrous ceiling curving over the audience, crisscrossed with a lattice of wooden beams. It’s a fitting home for The Enchanted Playhouse, a company enjoying its twenty-second season of plays geared to young audiences, and now Sleeping Beauty takes the Main Street stage.