Dallas Children's Theater opened the C.S. Lewis classic, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, adapted by Joseph Robinette, on March 19, 2010 at The Baker Theater. "Lion" is the second of seven books of Irish playwright Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia."
The play centers on four siblings who are sent away to safety in the English countryside during the London air raids of World War II. They are sent to the large house of an old, shaggy, white-haired professor. The house is ten miles from the nearest railway station and is staffed with a housekeeper and three servants.
The children are fascinated by the many stairs and passageways. They discover a large, nearly empty room with only a wardrobe filled with many long fur coats. One by one the siblings explore the wardrobe which gives way to the wooded land of Narnia where they embark on a series of adventures with the denizens of Narnia including a faun, a wolf, a dwarf, a lion, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Father Christmas, and the evil White Witch, malevolently and humorously enacted by Morgana Shaw.
Superbly directed by Artie Olaisen with whimsical costumes by Leila Heise, lighting design by multi-award winner Linda Blase, and excellent acting by the entire cast, this is a must-see production.
