I Theatre’s The Ant and the Grasshopper – a musical for the whole family!

I had watched the same musical 3 years ago with my older two kids and had loved it. It was one of the more memorable I Theatre productions to date and one of the first productions of I Theatre that I had watched. That’s big J and big C, and they looks so small then, aged 3 and 5 back in 2014.

So when I saw the 2017’s ITheatre lineup featuring this show, I have already ticked this on my t0-watch-list more for the benefit of the my younger kids (who didn’t get to watch it in 2014) as a fun and musical introduction to Aesop fables.

photo credit: I Theatre

The bees opened the show before the main characters ie Antoinette the Ant and Criminy the Grasshopper come on stage to tell the story that all have been waiting for. The bees often provided comedy in between the “serious” conversations between Antoinette and Criminy.

photo credit: I Theatre

Antoinette would work all day long without rest and always stressed. Hence, it is not all good to emulate the ant which she would later realised there should be a balance between work and rest.

photo credit: I Theatre

Criminy with his ukulele would sing and dance through summer and autumn, and ill prepared for the winter despite endless advise from Antonette and the bees. He suffered through the winter only to be saved by his friends.

photo credit: I Theatre

This is the Vanessa the caterpillar and she doesn’t like change, frankly most adults don’t like change to. Little does she know that her next change would be into the beautiful butterfly, hence it is a change for the better.

photo credit: I Theatre

Lady Coco, the ladybird had my husband laughing in stitches (despite doing the zoo run and a late night on Saturday, he didn’t doze off). Thanks for entertaining the daddies in the audience who had to follow their wives and kids along. All the kids will look forward to a happy ending and with all Aesop fables, the moral to the story. I grew up reading Aesop fables but I do notice that it is not so popular among the children nowadays. Old is gold and I am reminded through this musical that I should reintroduce the many stories from the Aesop fables to my kids.

Thanks for making this a show for the family – true to I Theatre’s conviction of producing musical for the whole family from anyone 3 and above!

The cast were largely the same as the 2014’s cast with the exception of 2 new cast members who played the Bee and Caterpillar, so they reprised their role effortless, like their second nature.

What I really loved about The Ant and The Grasshopper.

There isn’t any scary creature or evil characters for the younger ones and new to theatre productions/musicals. For newbies and kids who are newly introduced to theatre productions, some kids may actually be afraid of the big bad wolf in Goldilocks and the 3 bears or The 3 little pigs, or the troll in The 3 Billy Goat Gruff but in this production of The Ant and The Grasshopper there is no such “bad” or “evil” character. I have not such concern for small J as he is a veteran in this, but for small C this was one of his first. I wouldn’t want small C to burst into tears if the character gets too intimidating.
Relatable characters – ant, grasshopper and my favourite Ladybird!Most kids will able to relate to insects like ant, grasshopper, bees and ladybird and they have the most beautiful costumes!
Simple story line and the values from Aesop’s fables:-There is no complicated storyline , for some one who has not read this Aesop fables will be able to follow the storyline. For younger kids like small J, it is also not hard to follow. Maybe the one concept reiterated by Vanessa the caterpillar about change is harder to be understood by the younger ones, but this is one value that will be closer to the adult audience’s heart!
Catchy songs:- It is often easy to lose focus and concentration when there is too much dialogues, especially my younger kids. So, there was a good amount of songs and musical peppered through this show keeps the younger kids’ sitted and enjoying the musical.

My impression of this show as compared to the last show was the props were more elaborate and I prefer this theatre at SOTA as compare to the previous venue.

All in all it was an entertaining show for the weekend for my family…for my younger boys and even for my “old” boy!

Everyone will have a favourite character/insect. Small J loved the grasshopper…oh well, i prefer that he liked the ant more, but he say he likes to be lazy like the grasshopper 🙁 . He also understood that if he is lazy, he will never be prepared for the future (ok maybe he is tad to young to understand this fully). As for me, I loved Lady Coco , the ladybird, for adding a humourous and fun twist to the show (shall not elaborate too much because it will be a spoiler!). With all I Theatre’s performances, there is always a meet and greet for all patrons for memory keepsake , just like the first photo I had of the older kids in the 2014 productions. Here’s one for the memory, our first 2017’s I Theatre show with the younger boys!