Every day, Morris McGee takes the No. 5 bus to his job at the zoo. Every day, he lovingly attends to the elephant, the tortoise, the penguin, the owl and the rhinoceros (who always has a runny nose). Every day, that is, until it’s Morris who has the sniffles! Based on a Caldecott Medal-winning book by Philip C. Stead, this charming puppetry performance about one creature of habit and his kindhearted coterie will warm your heart and chase away the winter chills.

The Train Theater brings a puppet show based on the beloved, Caldecott-winning children’s book A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead, now playing at the New Victory Theater. Every day Morris McGee gets up and takes the No. 5 bus to the zoo where he works and takes care of all the animals. He has never missed a day in his lengthy tenure at the zoo, until now, when he has a bad cold and can’t get out of bed. The original story shares a simple message that portraying kindness and thoughtfulness to others, and all species, is very important in our society. In this production of the story, renamed A Sick Day for Morris McGee, it all plays out on one medium sized set, which is a large multi-use table complete with hidden props and simplistic special effects, with a singular puppeteer, Maayan Resnick, performing in full view. Benjamin David Elder narrates in a pleasant voice and the interaction between the narrator’s voice and the puppeteer are delightful and humorous. It is always interesting to see how different companies present a puppet show, and although the cut-out stencil puppets were lovely, they were not very large or elaborate and had limited movement capabilities. The pr …Read more