The Gingerbread Kid

The Gingerbread Kid at Coterie Theatre

Magic has consequences, even when you're made of gingerbread. The Gingerbread Kid at the Coterie Theatre follows Allspice, the enchanted offspring of two bakers, who bolts after devouring a few too many family sweets and discovers that running from trouble only leads to bigger adventures.

This roughly one-hour pop musical gives Kansas City families a theatrical experience designed for full attention spans—young enough to hold wandering minds, substantial enough to deliver a complete story with music by Jodi Marr and book and lyrics by Abe Reybold. Allspice's journey doesn't drag or rush; it moves.

The real surprise? Allspice doesn't wander through an empty forest. Henny Penny and her gang show up. So does Little Boy Blue. Foofinella—better known as Little Bunny Foo Foo—crosses paths with the runaway, and a hungry fox prowls through it all. Familiar storybook characters collide instead of staying neatly in their own tales, turning what could be a simple escape plot into a mashup where nursery-rhyme logic meets contemporary musical storytelling.

Allspice's sweet-toothed mischief drives the whole mess forward, a kid-sized hero whose mistakes feel real enough to care about and fantastical enough to enjoy without lectures. The Coterie presents this all-ages production, and it lands somewhere between fairy tale and musical-theater romp—compact, tuneful and built for an audience that still believes in talking animals and baked goods with feelings.

Get tickets for The Gingerbread Kid and a family-sized dose of storybook mischief.