The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza

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

When a production teams up Elephant, Piggie, The Pigeon and those Unlimited Squirrels, you're watching different personalities collide over the same celebration—and for children who already know Mo Willems's picture-book characters, the fun doubles. The Coterie brings these familiar personalities together in a rolling world premiere that mixes silly stories, songs, gifts and audience antics, all in about sixty minutes. One friend wants to celebrate; another insists on decorating; The Pigeon, impatient as ever, considers bolting for the North Pole to track down the greatest gift. That friction creates the comedy, not a solemn seasonal lesson.

Adam Tobin wrote script and lyrics alongside Willems; Deborah Wicks La Puma composed the music, so the contrasting wants play out through theater and original songs. The North Pole is an enormous solution to a wonderfully familiar problem: wondering whether the best present is somewhere else. Children can root for the celebration or understand the temptation to go looking, while the squirrels get on with their decorating.

The all-ages format runs approximately an hour, and the Kansas City production shares its world-premiere status with theaters elsewhere, making this run part of the show's first season onstage. Get tickets to The Pigeon Gets A Big Time Holiday Extravaganza at The Coterie Theatre.