‘Pete the Cat’ to bring children’s literature to life at the RiverCenter

“Pete the Cat” comes to Columbus this week as part of the RiverCenter’s Discovery Series — a lineup of educational programming aimed at providing supplemental arts educational experiences for school-aged children in the Chattahoochee Valley.

The RiverCenter will host several performances of the national tour of the musical that is based on the critically acclaimed children’s book series by Georgia artist James Dean.

It is expected that over the course of the 2017-18 school year, more than 25,000 students will be impacted by the RiverCenter’s arts educational programming.

Rick McKnight, the RiverCenter’s director of education, said the focus of schools everywhere is on literacy — reading, critical thinking and writing.

“The RiverCenter is thrilled to present an entire series based on the best in children’s literature,” he said.

The musical rendition of “Pete the Cat” presents the groovy blue cat and his friends in quite a predicament. The show begins as Pete has been busted for having bad manners and is being sent to live with the Biddle family. The Biddles are unfortunately square, and their uptight nature turns out to be quite the match for groovy Pete.

Soon enough though, all of the family is rocking out with Pete except little Jimmy. Jimmy, a highly organized second grader, is too focused on his school work to have any fun with Pete. Thankfully, when Jimmy draws a blank in art class, Pete is there to save the day and teach him a little bit about inspiration.

This tour of “Pete the Cat” began in New York City in fall 2016. With just five actors, the show is able to play to a wide variety of venues of different sizes and styles. All members of the production staff work together to make the small traveling production a reality.

According to Theatreworks USA, “The five actors and stage manager touring with ‘Pete the Cat’ rehearsed for two weeks in New York City with the director and choreographer. Once the tour begins, the actors and stage manager typically arrive at the performance venue early in the morning to set up the scenery and to prepare for the performance. Following the show, they pack the set, costumes, and sound equipment into two large vans, and drive to the next city, sleep in a hotel, and begin the whole ritual again the following day.”

“Pete the Cat” is geared toward early school-aged children in grades pre-K to third. The show runs approximately 50 minutes, and is produced by Theatreworks USA. In addition to the production, Theatreworks USA also provides educators with curriculum connections for “Pete the Cat,” which include ties to communication and language arts, literature, music, relationships and family.

Although the Discovery Matinees will be primarily for schools and take place during school hours, an evening performance for the public will take place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17. Tickets for the evening performance are still available through the RiverCenter’s box office for $19 each. According to a recent news release from the RiverCenter, a limited number of tickets for the Discovery Series Matinee performances are also still available and are now open to the public.

When asked why he’s excited for Columbus’ children to see “Pete the Cat” at the RiverCenter, McKnight said the RiverCenter booked this show first in their series for a reason.

“We wanted to kickoff our children’s season with ‘Pete the Cat’ because it’s such Georgia literature,” he said. “The creators are from Atlanta and it’s on the list of 25 Books All Young Georgians Should Read. So come and wear your white shoes.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2017 at 9:30 PM with the headline "‘Pete the Cat’ to bring children’s literature to life at the RiverCenter."