The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza

The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza at The Coterie Theatre

Mo Willems characters don't do serene holiday tableaux. When The Coterie brings Elephant, Piggie, Unlimited Squirrels and The Pigeon together for a 60-minute musical celebration, you get personalities colliding over presents and decorating decisions. Unlimited Squirrels go wild with decorations. Elephant and Piggie lean into the joy. The Pigeon? He's considering ditching the whole party for the North Pole in search of the greatest gift. That impatient, easily flustered bird crashing a cheerful celebration creates the funny friction that keeps the show bouncing instead of treacly.

Mo Willems and Adam Tobin’s lyrics and Deborah Wicks La Puma's music carry the different energies—enthusiastic, skeptical, chaotic—turning the book characters’ celebration into a musical story. You don't need familiarity with the picture books to enjoy watching a room full of characters want incompatible things at the same time, but if you've ever seen a preschooler giggle at The Pigeon's tantrums, you'll recognize that voice onstage throwing doubt into the seasonal cheer.

The Coterie stages this all-ages rolling world premiere, a new stage adventure for characters who've lived mostly on pages. Audience antics fold into the 60 minutes—silly stories and songs alongside the gifts and silly stories. It's a holiday show built for impatience, decoration overload and competing ideas of what makes a celebration work, not for sitting quietly and behaving.

Get tickets for The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza at The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City.