Dan's Papers -November 21, 2008 - Err, A Parent - Great Shows for the Day After (Thanksgiving, that is)

With Thanksgiving comes family, friends, feasting - and extra time with the kids. On November 28, the Friday following turkey day, while anyone still employed might be out taking advantage of the "first shopping day of Christmas," a responsible, designated adult can take the kids to one of two great shows on the East End.

The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center will present the daddy of them all when it comes to family theater: The Paper Bag Players, a group celebrating its 50th anniversary with the show, "Make A Little Room For Me." Yes, this group has been actively performing since 1958! More than three million children all over the world have seen the Obie-Award winning Players, and if you weren't one of them as a kid, now is the time to treat yourself and your little ones.

The Players present outrageously creative and funny shows with songs, dances, jokes, painting on the set, audience participation and ridiculous costumes and scenery made from, yes, paper bags. For this year's golden anniversary show, the group will do a number of favorites including a bossy bathtub, a breathtaking bicycle race and an elegant paper lady. We saw their show "On Top of Spaghetti" last year at PAC and my partner, our son and I laughed out loud more times than I can count - it's highly creative work for people of all ages. The show is Friday, Nov. 28, at 3 p.m. at PAC. Tickets are $25, $20, $15. (631) 288-1500 or visit us on the web at whbpac.org.

Also on Friday, at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., Bay Street Theatre's KidStreet series is presenting a human version of the rabbit characters Max and Ruby, created by Rosemary Wells and morphed into a very popular animated show on Noggin. For the uninitiated, Ruby is a big sister bunny who tries to be responsible, and Max is her often unintentionally troublemaking little brother. The show at Bay Street is yet another incarnation of the sibling characters, an original musical from Theatreworks USA.

My son, who saw a preview at his school recently, was a Max & Ruby fan at ages 3 and 4. But now that he's almost 6 and has graduated to Nicktoons and "Jetix," "Transformers" and "Bakugons," I wondered if the show would hold his interest.

Well, he said it was a riot and wants to see it again. He described a big blue tarantula that comes out, in addition to a green alien gorilla and electric eel. These creatures are created by Max's imagination, but materialize as human-sized creatures, which keep the show interesting for the older kids. By all reports, the songs, by Carol Hall, are top notch - Hall received two Drama Desk Awards for her score to the popular Broadway hit The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas - and with a cast of six, it's a full scale production. Max & Ruby will be performed at Bay Street on Friday, November 28 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tickets are $12, at baystreet.org. Both Paper Bag and Max & Ruby are geared to geared to 4-8 year olds - but you could easily stretch that by a year or so on either end with no complaints.