Roald Dahl’s high-flying story James and the Giant Peach is coming to Mercer University next month.
The musical adaptation of the famed children's novel will take place Nov. 1 through 5 at Tattnall Center for the Arts presented by Mercer Theatre.
The play tells the tale of English orphan boy James Henry Trotter, who escapes the clutches of his dreadful aunts, Spiker and Sponge. He embarks on a soaring adventure aboard a magical peach to New York City, befriending a motley crew of zaney insects.
Performances will start at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 through 4, with a 1 p.m. show on Nov. 4 and 2:30 p.m. on the Nov. 5.
There will be a special performance on Nov. 12 at the Monroe Fine Arts Center.
Now a Theatre for Young Audiences musical, the play features music and lyric from Tony Award-nominated team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
The whimsical script comes from playwright Timothy Allen McDonald, known for his previous adaptation of Dahl’s Willy Wonka.
Over the past weeks, Mercer Theatre actors have been in rehearsals.
“We started rehearsals the next day,” said Mercer junior Briá Smith.
Auditions took place on Sept. 18 and 19, where student players were asked to sing a song and had the opportunity to perform a monologue.
The 17 person cast quickly began learning their lines and the upbeat songs from the entertaining score. Then dancing and stage direction was added bringing the performers closer to running the full show.
“I get to have costume changes and be more than one character in the show,” Smith said.
Smith is singing and dancing in the chorus, where she said she is having fun with her fellow cast members and the crew.
“The show is all about the power of friendship and how the people that are your true friends can be more like family than your blood relatives,” she said.
Come soar with James and the Giant Peach
