ORLANDO — Italian author Carlo Collodi never let us know if Pinocchio, having been turned into a real boy, followed his father Geppetto into the field of carpentry. For all we know, Pinocchio could have gone on to become a pastry chef.
Now a delightful new musical at Orlando Family Stage offers a wildly creative reinvention of the fairy tale, where our mischievous Pinocchio is no longer a wooden puppet, and dad is no carpenter. This time, G.Petto is a hip hop video game designer who invents a boy in one of his illustrated games, and is so taken with his character that he dubs him P.Nokio and casts out a wistful dream: wouldn’t it be great if P.Nokio became a real boy.
Fortunately for G.Petto, his neighborhood includes a Graffiti Fairy who hears that wish and transports P.Nokio out of the video and into G.Petto’s workshop. Let the adventures begin!
P.Nokio: A Hip Hop Musical opened on Tuesday, launching Orlando Family Stage’s fall season of family-friendly entertainment, and will continue through Sept. 22. While “children’s show” can sometimes feel like an arduous chore for the adults in the audience, I can guarantee most parents are likely to find this production’s good humor, high energy, soaring choreography and top notch performances to be as engaging as the little ones do.
What is the Musical P.Nokio About?
Pinocchio is such an iconic, beloved character today — not only from the classic Collodi book but also Disney’s 1940 animated version and countless other movies that have followed — that tinkering with it can be risky artistically. Who doesn’t have fond childhood memories of when we first discovered Pinocchio?
But there isn’t much to fault in this show, with sticks to the main themes of the Collodi book/Disney movie, while transporting it cleverly into the world of hip hop music. The Disney animated film with its legendary theme song “When You Wish Upon A Star” amply demonstrated that the story lent itself beautifully to song and dance; this production emphasizes that just as effectively.
As in the original, once G.Petto invents a son, he sends the naive P.Nokio off to school — except the boy gets sidetracked by a con artist fox and his sidekick cat. Pretty soon poor P.Nokio is getting into one misadventure after another, and as the Graffiti Fairy warns him, lying and bad behavior means he’ll never becomes a real boy.
This production has the added advantage of introducing hip hop songs to the mix, and a great deal of credit for the show’s success should go to Arius West for crafting the show’s energetic choreography. The story moves along at a snappy pace, but once those music numbers pop up, the joint starts hopping.
How is the Orlando Family Stage production?
Casting is another one of the show’s great virtues. The tall and lanky Adourin Jamelle Owens couldn’t possibly give us a more picture-perfect P.Nokio: he’s alternately sweet, innocent, gullible, and quick to recognize his many Oops! moments.
He’s a great match alongside Brent Jordan as the excitable and creative G.Petto who knows he’s on to something great here with this video game boy, and Esther Olivio as the kindly Graffiti Fairy who keeps getting annoyed that nobody has ever heard of her!
Jared-Austin Roys and Kasey Kraft do a fine job juggling multiple side roles, having an especially grand time playing the story’s many villains, and West pops up as one of the additional characters.
The show, which runs for an hour in 15 minutes, had the audience roaring with approval at the end. I heartily share their enthusiasm.
Where Can I See P.Nokio A Hip Hop Musical?
P.Nokio: A Hip Hop Musical is being performed at the Orlando Family Stage at 1001 E. Princeton St. in Loch Haven Park in Orlando. The musical will be performed now through Sunday, Sept. 22 with showtimes at 2 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sundays.
Call (407) 896-7365 for tickets or more information.
Michael Freeman is an Orlando journalist, playwright, and author of the book A Christmas Eve Story. Contact him at Freelineorlando@gmail.com.
Freeline Media accepts opinion columns — ones that are polite, civil, and done with insight and good taste — from all points of view, all ideologies, all political parties and concerns. Contact us today at FreelineOrlando@gmail.com if you’d like to share your views and opinions with Freeline Media and our readers.
