Kid’s Theater Review: The Ohmies Morning Wish Garden

Posted by Jeff on July 12, 2011 at 9:47 pm

The Bear with The Ohmies

The Omnies Morning Wish Garden
Peter Jay Sharp Theater
416 W 42nd St NY NY
Runs: now through September 25, 2011
Tickets: $35

The Ohmies Morning Wish Garden is a unique musical where toddlers are not only allowed to wiggle, slide, bounce and test the personal space of those around them – they’re encouraged to!

The 50-minute show is a preschooler’s dream come true: eye catching set, vivid costumes, snappy musical numbers and lots of dancing and shaking. Really, it’s a tricked-out Candyland come to life with basic yoga and stretching in lieu of sweets and with worrysome clouds proving as non-threatening as Lord Liquorice. It’s assumed that city kids are too cool for the kind of colorful cuteness fluttering around Ohmland but I say poo to that. Chilling out barefooted on an exercise mat for about an hour with the bubbly gentility of The Ohmies is too sweet an experience for such cynicism.

2013 Update

The Ohmies cast recording of the songs from the Morning Wish Garden musical are now available and stand up surprisingly well on their own. Funny story: The troupe, which still seems to be together in their original lineup from when we originally saw them in NYC 2+ years ago, performed at this year’s Kindiefest industry showcase, and even with nary a child or a yoga mat in the Brooklyn crowd, the players were exciting in a way that not many (I’m guessing here) expected. The songs, while they could never be considering lyrically complex, are light and sweet, just like the characters, and all will transfer very well to AM television which is where I hear they are heading very, very soon.

Most all of the genre-jumping songs are rather enjoyable, but Grasshopper stole the show with his bouncy number that had all of the kids – and most of the adults – leaping across the theater. The Ohmies Morning Wish Garden is co-operative, multicultural, and a bit educational with some nifty puns and wordplay. The show isn’t breaking new ground with it’s themes of fear, teamwork and sibling rivalry, and there are a few cringe worthy moments (I call foul on the giggly use of the non-word “besties” in lieu of best friends), but it’s an inventive production overall that your little ones will drink up like a juice box. And if you let yourself, I bet you’ll secretly enjoy it too. Although you’ll never admit it to your hipster besties.

The Ohmies Morning Wish Garden is ideal for children ages 2-6…and their youthful elder siblings.

*OWTK received 4 tickets to the show for review consideration. The opinions expressed above are unbiased and honest. No arm-twisting took place in the review process.