Marie Rader Series brings Magic School Bus to Pfleeger

With the bustling cacophony of children talking over each other, actors from TheaterWorks USA took the stage in presenting “The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System,” and the theater fell silent. On Saturday, Sept. 20, the actors put on two productions of the 1980s to the early 1990s best-seller. The first time was at 11:00 a.m., and later on, they performed the show again at 4:00 p.m. From infants barely old enough to open their eyes to octogenarians, the seats were filled with a wide array of people who were clapping away.

Set initially in a classroom, things quickly took a turn for the quirky when Ms. Frizzle appeared in her dress and solar system model on her head. The teacher decided to take the kids to the planetarium, but they ran into some trouble getting there.

The next option was to take the kids on the bus to outer space in all its glory. They visited Mercury, Venus, and Mars, and in the midst of all the educational fun, trouble developed with the guidance system. The kids lost sight of Ms. Frizzle, chaos ensued, and that’s all that can be said about that. It would be a shame to ruin the ending for anyone, should it ever come back around.

When the stage lights were out and the cast exited stage right, all the families and friends stood up and cleared the auditorium.  

“It was super awesome,” said 10-year-old Edan K.

23-year-old actor Christian Cordoba, who played Carlos, knew he’d had the part since this May. He was just as appreciative of the show as his audience members were.

“This show means that we get to have fun. It’s sort of a distraction from everything else that’s going on in the world, and it’s just fun, it’s educational, it means community. You know, coming together and solving problems. It’s a lesson that everyone can take home with them,” said Cordoba.

Other actors (who also doubled as the crew) were in agreement about the show’s success.

“This was our first show for this tour…so I think it went well considering. We’ve done it all in rehearsal space, [so] it was great to be on an actual stage,” said 27-year-old Alexis Gardiner, who played Janet.

“TheaterWorks USA is a major Children’s theater producer and tour management company. So, I’m always looking for the shows they have available, and I was waiting for what I felt was the right one for our community, and it had to be “The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System.” [It’s] really fitting because we have a big community who loves our planetarium, and loves to learn about the solar system, so it just felt like the right time,” said Debbie Shapiro, artistic director for the Marie Rader Series.

While learning about the solar system in general and the planets, more specifically, the kids in the audience were also unwittingly learning other important lessons. The overwhelming morals of the story were that teamwork is always better, and things aren’t always what they seem.

One thing’s for sure: the cast was definitely on for that performance.

“We loved it…[we loved] everything,” said 11-year-old Braylon and his six-year-old sister, Brielle K.