I’m not a kid, so maybe take this review with a grain of salt, but after last year’s delightful Dog Man: The Musical, this holiday season’s Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical at the Kirk Douglas Theatre comes as a major letdown.

To begin with, though each of these hour-long children’s musicals is based on a Dav Pilkey book series and both of them feature songs by composer Brad Alexander and lyricist Kevin Del Aguila, only Dog Man had anything resembling a coherent plot.

Yes, it was about as wild and wacky as plots get but at least there was a storyline to follow along with characters you could fall in love with, most notably the titular Dog Man (dog’s head sewn onto policeman’s body) and a villain (Petey, aka “the world’s most evilest cat”) who was pretty darned irresistible himself.

Not so the virtually plot-free Cat Kid Comic Club The Musical, which has us following a bunch of baby frogs assigned by the titular Cat Kid (and a pollywog named Molly) to write a series of four comic books, their efforts overseen by “fishy father” Flippy.

And that’s it.

As to what these “comic books” are about, titles like “Dennis The Toothbrush Lawyer for Dinosaurs” and “The Cute, Little, Fluffy Cloud of Death” pretty much say it all, and for those who prefer their comics to be about butts, there’s one entitled “Chubbs McSpiderbutt,” so named because of Chubbs’ eight appendages and great big behind.

And though Alexander and Del Aguila clearly have a knack for song-writing, there’s hardly one I’d call “wackily wonderful” as I did when reviewing Dog Man.

At the very least, director-choreographer Marlo Hunter gives her multitalented cast some amusing, energetic dance moves to execute, and Diamond Destiny, swing Troi Lennoxx Gaines, Jimmy Henderson, Janna Linae, David Vandyke, and Savannah Trotter give it their enthusiastic all, though unfortunately you won’t see any of them pictured in the accompanying production stills since apparently no pix were taken of the currently touring cast.

Jen Caprio’s costumes are clever and colorful, but Cameron Anderson’s scenic design, limited to a bunch of fantastical desks and some pop-up froggies, is a definite comedown from Timothy R. Mackabee’s for Dog Man: The Musical.

David Lander’s vibrant lighting makes the production’s saturated colors pop, and Scott Staufer earns sound design points for his mix of live amped vocals (under Connor Doran’s assured music direction) and prerecorded tracks featuring Alexander’s orchestrations.

Puppets are designed an fabricated by Acheson Walsh Studios. Sara Andreas is associate director and choreographer. Colton Robertson is stage manager.

Having fallen head over heels for last year’s Dog Man: The Musical I was primed to repeat that experience with its Theater Works USA follow-up.

I don’t know how your children will react to Cat Kid Comic Club The Musical. They might possibly enjoy it, or they might be as disengaged as the kid sitting in front of me at yesterday’s performance appeared to be.

As far as this reviewer is concerned, anyone over the age of six, eight at the tops, would do well to stay home and watch Disney+.

Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Through January 5. See website for detailed performance schedule.
www.centertheatregroup.org

–Steven Stanley
November 24, 2024
Photos: Jeremy Daniel

Tags: Brad Alexander, Center Theatre Group, Dav Pilkey, Kevin Del Aguila, Kirk Douglas Theatre, Los Angeles Theater Review