The Gingerbread Kid

The Gingerbread Kid at Coterie Theatre

When the enchanted offspring of two bakers devours everything in sight and bolts to escape the fallout, a trail of crumbs leads straight into chaos. The Gingerbread Kid at the Coterie Theatre puts Allspice—a magical child with an appetite for trouble—on a collision course with the sort of nursery-rhyme faces you haven't seen misbehaving together before.

This sixty-minute pop musical pulls Henny Penny and her anxious crew, Little Boy Blue, and Foofinella (also known as Little Bunny Foo Foo) into the same story, where separate fables suddenly share the same consequences. When a hungry fox joins the chase, the stakes shift from bedtime-story comfort to real danger. The score by Jodi Marr sets those tangled encounters to music that favors catchy hooks over lullabies, while Abe Reybold's book and lyrics keep the plot moving through mischief rather than moralizing.

What makes this all-ages show work is the way familiar characters respond to each other instead of repeating their usual scripts. The fox isn't a background menace—he's a genuine threat threading through a world where chickens, shepherds and rabbits have to cooperate or become dinner. Allspice's reckless choices ripple outward, forcing everyone else to adapt.

Get your tickets for this inventive storybook mashup in Kansas City and watch what happens when nursery rhymes refuse to stay on their assigned pages.