VITAL CHILDREN’S THEATRE COMPANY is pleased to announce their next children’s theatre production, “UNWANTED: THE VERY UGLY DUCKLING,” written by MICHAEL AMAN and OSCAR E. MOORE and directed by DON BILL. The production will run Saturdays only from June 3rd through July 1st. There will be two performances, which run aproximately one hour, each Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Vital Theatre Company is located at 432 West 42nd Street on the 3rd floor (between 9th and 10th Avenues).
“UNWANTED: THE VERY UGLY DUCKLING,” tells the story of Ted who is born into a world where things are not quite what he expected. He now has a gorgeous sister, a gossipy neighbor and a host of new trials. This audience-interactive play finds our hero facing hunters, foxes, and the Olympics. From meeting a famous Russian ballerina in Swan Lake to an insensitive plastic surgeon, Ted is confronted with trouble at every turn in his quest to find beauty within himself.

Director DON BILL has directed and choreographed numerous children's shows throughout the Rocky Mountain region. For the past six years he was the Artistic Director For PHAMALy (The Physically Handicapped Actors League), working out of The Denver Center. There he directed the regional premier of Side Show as well as Mame, The Boyfriend, How to Succeed..., and Fiddler on the Roof. As a resident director for Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center he staged Forever Plaid, Party, Whoop-Dee -Doo and Ruthless. Mr. Bill was a 1997 winner of a Denver Drama Critics Circle Award for his original production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Arvada Center.

In addition to “Unwanted...” writers MICHAEL AMAN and OSCAR E. MOORE have collaborated on a number of works including Trish at 10:00, a one-act that was presented as part of VITAL SIGNS Vital Theatre Company’s New Works Festival in February. Mr. Aman, a graduate of Brooklyn College’s Dramaturgy program serves as Vital Theatre Company’s dramaturg and heads up their playwrighting workshop.

Featured in the cast are RICHARD GUIDO as “Ted” the un - wan -ted duckling, LISA CLARK as his sister J.D. (Just Divine) and MEGAN MUCKLEMAN as Gwen their mother. Rounding out the ensemble are HEATHER CUNNINGHAM and NORM ISAKSSON.

Review

New York Times

June 9, 2000

FAMILY FARE

By LAUREL GRAEBER

Disco Duck
One trend in dramatizing fairy tales is to return to the grimness of the Brothers Grimm. The Vital Children's Theater Company, however, takes a different approach: although it retains the happy endings that small children find comforting, it injects contemporary references, comic twists, Hollywood music and opportunities for the audience to join in.

Consider its latest production, "Unwanted: The Very Ugly Duckling," by Michael Aman and Oscar E. Moore. In this New Age interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen, the hero, who hatches from an adopted egg, grows up to discover both his inner beauty and his birth mother.

In the meantime, he is subjected to the usual torments by his vain sister (Lisa Catherine Clark) and a nosy hen (Heather E. Cunningham), who seems to be related to Chicken Little. When she sees the size of the adopted egg the mother duck (Megan Muckelmann) is incubating, she runs off squawking about an alien invasion.

Poor Ted (his name is the last syllable of "Unwanted"), played with appropriate pluck by Richard Guido, is always trying to avoid exposure, even asking for an audience volunteer to take his place at swim lessons. But he still manages to find himself center stage, whether it's in a confrontation with a hunter (Norm Isaksson, armed with a slingshot and a voice like Elmer Fudd's) or in a ballet that is a disco version of -- what else? -- "Swan Lake."

Ted's self-image improves, and it's impossible not to cheer him on when he goes for Olympic gold as a synchronized swimmer. The company, expertly directed by Don Bill, deserves a medal, too.

"Unwanted: The Very Ugly Duckling," Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. through July 1 at Vital Theater Company, 432 West 42nd Street, Clinton, (212) 592-4508. Tickets: $10. Reservations advised.

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company