I really wanted to like Know Theatre’s Sideways Stories
from Wayside School. It’s a new “family-friendly”
show for the holidays, but it could be presented anytime. There’s nary a sprig
of holly or a “Bah, humbug” in sight. (There is a scary teacher who could use a
few lessons from the spirits who straightened out Scrooge.) Reading about this
play, I expected to have a good time watching it.
Know has assembled a talented cast who work hard to bring to
life a collection of strange and silly stories from Louis Sachar’s books for
kids about a school that’s 30 stories tall due to an architectural mistake. Most
of the action is on the top floor with the students in Mrs. Gorf’s classroom, performed
with animated vitality by Chris Wesselman, Alison Vodnoy, Annie Kalahurka,
Catherine Prevett and Darnell Benjamin.
Dylan Shelton plays the evil teacher with
cackling acidity. Once she’s inadvertently disposed of, the kids learn more
oddball lessons from her kindly replacement, Mrs. Jewls (Liz Vosmeier), and Louis
(Joshua Murphy), the playground supervisor.
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But ultimately I found myself bored with 90 minutes of forced
zaniness. A few in the Dec. 3 audience were tickled (no children were present),
but many seemed stifled by the loud, repetitive humor: The kids scream (in the
manner of Home Alone) whenever Mrs.
Gorf’s name is mentioned. The first act concludes with five minutes of chasing
around and shouting. Even for young audiences, frantic doesn’t necessarily
equate to entertaining.
Some scenes are great fun, especially when the vivacious
Miss Valoosh (Breona Conrad) pops in to teach everyone to tango. Guest director
Jason Ballweber creatively uses two performers in ninja black to “invisibly”
move props and write messages on a blackboard. Yet the arithmetic at Wayside
School simply doesn’t add up to a funny,
engaging evening.
SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL, presented by Know Theatre of Cincinnati, continues through Dec. 26. Buy tickets, check out performance times and get venue details here.
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