Guest Reviewer Ema and Busytown

Behind the Curtain welcomes back guest reviewer Ema M, originally referred to us by the fine folks at Hugo House. Ema came down to see opening night of Busytown, and shares her thoughts with us below.



The most notable feature of Busytown was the extraordinarily bouncy, catchy songs. The small children you likely brought to the play will probably be singing “The Pickle Song” for the next two weeks, so it’s a good thing it’s a cute tune.


The cast was impressive; carrying off strong musical numbers and coherent children’s dialog is surprisingly difficult, perhaps the reason that it’s rather difficult to find plays directed at the three through six age group that their adult escorts can sit through. Busytown succeeds admirably. High energy, engaging characters and fun songs make this one guaranteed to entertain even the most easily distracted three year old for the hour and something minutes it runs.

The adventures of Huckle Cat, looking for ways to help around the town and plan Betsy Bear’s grandma’s birthday are sweet, but not sickly. The play is pretty fast-paced which is appropriate for the age group, but not so fast that it loses the audience.


For fans of the Richard Scarry books - don’t worry, Busytown the play isn’t going to ruin them. The play does not take ridiculous liberties with the original text but the musical element removes the play enough from the book to enjoy them both in different ways and not constantly compare the two.

The diversity in the cast is very well used and celebrated; never feels forced or unnaturally politically correct, perhaps because it is allowed to be subtle (although clearly visible) and take a secondary seat to the species of the character. The actors did skillful switches between characters assisted by fun costumes.


Fun would probably be the best word to describe Busytown in general; although it contains some educational themes like jobs, maps and basic anatomy, it never takes itself too seriously. If you’re looking for an engaging Friday or Saturday night out with kids, Busytown is a vivacious, entertaining romp.

Busytown runs through June 15th in the Charlotte Martin Theatre at Seattle Children's Theatre.

All photos by Chris Bennion.