A Soaring Musical Fable for The Kids

'Up in the Air' Gets Top-Flight Treatment

"Up in the Air" blows the sugary dust off of kids' musicals -- none of that candy-coated Disney junk here! -- and substitutes a hearty helping of death. This extremely well-performed fable about a tree frog who climbs too high and sees too much makes the body-strewn second act of "Into the Woods" seem chipper.

"Up in the Air," in the Kennedy Center's Family Theater today and tomorrow, was commissioned by the Kennedy Center as part of its current "Japan! Culture and Hyperculture" festival. The ingredients are intriguing. The source is a Japanese children's novel called "Boonah, the Tree-Climbing Frog." The conceiver and director is Amon Miyamoto, the first Japanese director to make it on Broadway (a production of Stephen Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures," in 2004). And the music is by Henry Krieger ("Dreamgirls").

The result is dark and alert, with one great "Dreamgirls"-style breakout number that's absurdly exciting even if it feels like it's from another planet. But hey, at least the show's not snarky (much -- it has a wee potty mouth) or condescending to kids, right?

For some audiences, that "mature" tone will be a plus, and possibly regarded as beautiful. The story is a sober circle-of-life fable, and Miyamoto's nod to Sept. 11 in his program note seems apt.

The youthfully brave Boonah (appealingly played by Stanley Bahorek) disregards danger, which is everywhere in his naturally besieged society. Boonah unwittingly climbs up to where the local kite hawk deposits its prey before returning to deliver dinner to the kids. The hawk's merciless appearances -- strobe lights and a giant talon from above -- are shuddering, thunderous affairs.

Ready for the songs yet? Boonah sings a power ballad before his climb, and then two twittering sparrows (Jonathan Hammond and Jill Abramovitz, dressed in natty browns) warble the brisk "Can't Stop Talkin' About Our Love." The music sounds like accomplished Broadway for kids.

That goes quadruple for Lillias White's bravura turn as the snake, who gets dropped in among the hawk's victims and considers a meal before dying ("Maybe Just a Bite").

That's the theatrical climax of a production stocked with talent. Broadway credits ripple through the r¿sum¿s of Michael-Leon Wooley (a golden-throated bullfrog), Deborah Lew (Boonah's adorable friend Sujata, plus a beautiful but ultimately bloody thrush), David McDonald (a shrike who seems like an extra from "The Sopranos"), Donna Lynne Champlin (Boonah's inappropriately amused mother), and everyone else onstage.

But "Up in the Air" revels in its bleakness, even finding occasion to point an angry finger at humans and their dissecting, force-feeding habits with animals. And the songs don't offer the much-wanted light of insight or redemption. Naturally, Boonah eventually gains a perspective that's deeper than his carefree beginning and wiser than a cheaply won "happily ever after," yet the show never rises to profundity.

Up in the Air, music by Henry Krieger, book and lyrics by Bill Russell. Conceived and directed by Amon Miyamoto. Choreography, Darren Lee; set design, Neil Patel; costume design, Angela Wendt; lighting design, Donald Holder; sound design, Brett Jarvis. Today and tomorrow at the Kennedy Center Family Theater. Call 202-467-4600 or visit http://www.kennedy-center.org.

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