Every year the Missoula Children's Theatre makes a stop in Carlyle at the elementary school. They arrive early in the week with kids auditioning on the Monday, then work towards performing the production on the Friday.
This year's production was titled Blackbeard the Pirate, and was held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 24. The one hour long musical was entertaining, bringing laughter to the filled gymnasium.
Beginning with Jolly Rodger (Tour Actor/Director, Andrew Stairs) getting the attention of some Beach Bums (Sydnie Bouchard, Kyra Cochrane, Brooklyn Delorme, Kenna Hagel, Braydon Hill, and Breck Therens-Waterman). Jolly Rodger then tells them a tale of adventure from the past and the treasure pirates hid on the beach.
Taken back in time by seaweed creatures(Zadie Gervais, Jacob Kirk, Carter Morrison, Darcie Rae, and Jaiden Riddell) a scene unfolds of pirates Blackbeard (Ashley Gilks), Bluebeard (Kaysha Turner), Redbeard (Madison Messier), Greybeard (Madison Paulo), Yellowbeard (Sydney Flynn), and Peachfuzz (Makenna Slykhuis) who find treasure and later steal a ship.
The sailors (Bea Caan, Jaden Mitchell, Zacchaeus Nicholl, Summer Rutten, Briana Sharp, and Max Waugh) chase the pirates to the beach where the treasure was buried by the pirates who planned on coming back for it later.
The pirates chase away the sailors, all but one, Lt. Maynard (Tarris Valentine) and leave believing their treasure is safe. Lt. Maynard then tracks down the real hiding place of the treasure which happened to be inside of Sam the Clam (voiced by Riley Gilks). The treasure, water from the Fountain of Youth, is then drunk by Lt. Maynard who transforms into Jolly Rodger.
Jolly Rodger was therefore 300 years old while telling the Beach Bums his tale and although there was no more water left from the Fountain of Youth he encouraged them to be active and lead a healthy lifestyle always remembering to stay safe from the sun through slipping on a long sleeved shirt, slopping on sunscreen, and slapping on a hat. These were the main lessons of the production.
Many laughs came through the introduction of sea creatures and parrots. The parrots (Alyssa Bee, Hunter Colpitts, Lily Cormier, Karsyn Gervais, Ashlee Lenius, Emma Pelletier, Katelyn Rutten, Kassidy Schultz, Sawyer Tomaszewski, Jayda Yanyu-Littlechief, Jole Yanyu-Littlechief, and Katie Yanyu-Littlechief) asked Jolly Rodger for crackers and one parrot wanted an English muffin.
Two crocodiles (Ty Fehrenbach and Brityn Baker) in a relationship squabbling were calmed down by the mermaids (Samantha Colpitts, Rylee Frache, Taya Kakakaway, Gia Maxie, Raya Nahbexie, Payton Spry, and Krimson Standingready).
The mermaids, however, were unable to calm the "cha cha'ing" crabs (Lainey Levesque, Addyson Morse, Tyra Newell, Summer Rutten, Brianna Sharp, and Max Waugh). The crabs explained they were crabs, so they were always crabby and they were also in charge of protecting the treasure.
The production also brings in youth to help as Assistant Directors. This year Riley Gilks, Riley Park, and Presley Wilcox helped the Tour Actor/Director Sam Ricci.
The school was thankful for the continued support from Carroll Dyck on the piano as an accompanist.
Overall the performance brought laughter and enjoyment to those in the crowd.
