Novel score helps fashion SCT's 'Peter and the Wolf'

When it premiered 70 years ago at the Moscow Central Children's Theater, "Peter and the Wolf" was composer Sergei Prokofiev's captivating way of familiarizing young people with the various instruments that make up a symphony orchestra. Prokofiev's story -- with its young hero and his elderly grandfather, its chattering bird and duck, its doughty hunters and its stealthy cat and wolf -- were a tool for demonstrating the expressive qualities of piccolo and bassoon, brasses and strings.

Tonight, Seattle Children's Theatre premieres a new take on an old trope. Playwright/choreographer Allison Gregory puts familiar characters through novel paces with the help of an eclectic score by Hummie Mann.

Gregory has some experience when it comes to shows for the very young. She and her playwright/husband Steven Dietz adapted "Go, Dog, Go" -- a favorite book for toddlers. It premiered at the Children's Theatre three years ago. Mann is a veteran composer of scores for TV and film. His "Peter and the Wolf" tunes take Prokofiev melodies and shape them into a waltz, a tango, a Charleston, a two-step shuffle and a new version of the 1940s Warner Bros. cartoon sound.

Gregory, whose daughter Ruby is 7, figures her new "Peter" is good for kids 4 and up.

"Peter and the Wolf" runs through March 18. The Children's Theatre is in Seattle Center. Tickets: $15-$30, $10 at box office Friday nights after tonight; 206-441-3322 or www.sct.org.

Richard the modern

Actor Todd Jefferson Moore just finished playing villain-turned-philanthropist Ebenezer Scrooge. Starting tonight he plays Richard III, a villain-turned-evil incarnate. Richard is the title character of William Shakespeare's 1593 tragedy of politics and ambition.

The show is a modern-dress production in which, as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once put it, "Stuff happens."

"Richard III" opens tonight at the Center House Theatre, Seattle Center, and runs through Jan. 29. Tickets: $18-$30, discounts for groups of 10 or more; 206-733-8222 or www.seattleshakespeare.org.

14/48 returns

The "world's quickest theater festival" is upon us once more. It's 14/48 -- 14 plays written, cast, rehearsed and performed in the course of 48 hours. Since 1997, the event has been the artistic equivalent of the Seattle Marathon. It starts tonight and runs through Jan. 14 at the Capitol Hill Arts Center, 1621 12th Ave. Tickets are $14.48; 800-838-3006 or www.brownpapertick- ets.com. Information: www. 1448fest.com.

Dutch treat

"Kommer," billed as an exploration of "individual suffering in a tender and hilarious portrayal of human fragility," opens Wednesday and runs through Sunday at On the Boards, 100 W. Roy St. "Kommer" is the work of Kassys, a Dutch company. Tickets are $22, students $12, rush tickets $12 starting an hour before curtain; 206-217-9888 or www.ontheboards.org.

-- Joe Adcock

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