Our First Guest Reviewer

Behind the Curtain welcomes guest reviewer, Abby B., who was kind enough to agree to check out "The Hundred Dresses" opening weekend and share with us, and you, what she thought.


Choosing the hard right over the easy wrong is Maddie’s struggle in the Seattle Children’s Theatre’s production of Eleanor Estes’ The Hundred Dresses. Written for the stage by Mary Hall Surface and directed by Allison Narver, The Hundred Dresses is an charming show about a young Polish girl, Wanda (Sharia Pierce), who, in an attempt to fit in with her peers, mentions that she has a hundred dresses. This is so unbelievable to the other girls because they have only seen Wanda wear the same dress every day to school that they start a teasing game. Maddie (Betsy Schwartz) feels horrible about the game but she does not have the courage to stand up to her best friend Peggy (Sarah Harlett) because Maddie is also poor and afraid that Peggy would turn the teasing game on to her.

Sarah Harlett, Emily Cedergreen, Troy Fischnaller, Tim Gouran and Betsy Schwartz in "The Hundred Dresses". Photo by Chris Bennion.

Believable as 10 year olds, the actors draw us on to the playground to witness how easily miscommunication can blow up into a series of mean fun and hurt feelings. They remind us that if we take the time to listen, to get to know to each other and to look past our differences, we can make a new friend or two. We also learn through Maddie after Wanda moves away that it may be too late to say we’re sorry but it’s never to late to learn from our actions or inactions so we do not make the same mistake again.

As always in the “less is more” fashion of SCT, the sets, lights and sounds add a delightfully seamless connection to the action on the stage. Major “props” go to the actors though who kept the audience so engaged in the story that when a tree was struck during the second act into the overhead curtains, it was hardly noticed.

I highly recommend this production of The Hundred Dresses to all my peers and their parents. Not only was it fun to watch but it has opened up many discussions of how at times in our lives we all have been a Wanda or a Maddie, and even at times a Peggy.

"The Hundred Dresses” is now running at the Seattle Children’s Theatre until April 6th, 2008. Ticket prices range from $17 to $33. Visit www.sct.org for more information.

Guest reviewer and veteran SCT audience-member Abby B. is 10 1/2 yrs old and lives in Bonney Lake, WA.