An Enchanting "Ivy + Bean: The Musical"

My daughter is a huge fan of the Ivy + Bean book series by local author Annie Barrows, so we were really excited to hear that a new children's theater production of Ivy + Bean: The Musical opening at Berkeley's Freight & Salvage. Produced by Bay Area Children's Theater, Ivy + Bean: The Musical is a fun and faithful adaptation of the first book in the New York Times-best-selling series about two second graders, outgoing Bean and quiet but imaginitive Ivy, who were sure they wouldn't like each other but end up best friends.

We were lucky enough to attend the world premiere performance of this delightful children's musical, and we had a great time. The production follows the plot of the first Ivy + Bean book very closely, and shows how Ivy and Bean—two girls with opposite personalities—become forever friends after Ivy helps Bean out of a bind and manages to help infuriate Bean's bossy older sister, Nancy, in the process.

This fast-paced play lasts approximately an hour with no intermission, and is recommended for kids ages 4 and up. The action moves quickly, keeping little ones entertained and enthralled, and Megan Putnam and Catherine Gloria are perfectly cast as the title characters. The other actors handle multiple roles with aplomb (It took my kids—and my husband—a while to figure out that most of the supporting actors had dual roles!)

If your kids are fans of the books, they'll absolutely love this production, and so will parents. If they aren't then they will be after seeing this show!

If You Go

Performances of Ivy + Bean: The Musical take place on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 am and 2 pm at the Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse in downtown Berkeley. It's close to Marin, and it's a fantastic venue in which to see live theater.

The Freight & Salvage has a snack bar on-site, where you can load up on cookies, hot chocolate, juice, coffee, and other drinks and snacks to enjoy during the performance. The Freight & Salvage is located at 2020 Addison Street, between Milvia Street and Shattuck Avenue, in downtown Berkeley. Convenient parking is available literally right next door at the Center Street Garage (there's an entrance on Addison). For directions and additional parking information, visit www.thefreight.org.

Tickets are $15 for children, $17 for seniors, $20 for adults, and $12 each for groups. To order, call the Bay Area Children's Theatre box office at (510) 296-4433 or visit www.bactheater.org.

If you can't or don't want to travel to the East Bay to see the show, don't fret—Ivy + Bean is coming right here to the Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, where it will play on weekends at 10:30 am and 12:30 pm from March 23 through April 6. We're really excited to see these wonderful children's theater productions here in Marin County. You can order tickets to the Mill Valley production at tickets.marintheatre.org or by calling (415) 388-5200.

Learn more about Ivy + Bean on author Annie Barrows' website here. Check out the trailer for the show below: