Review: Alliance’s “The Incredible Book Eating Boy” is a page-to-stage triumph

Have you ever held a book so deliciously good that you almost wish you could, well, devour it? Thus forms the premise of Oliver Jeffers’ award-winning children’s book, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, adapted by Alliance Theatre into a delightful romp of a musical. Opening in a well-received premiere last summer, the show returns for a three-week run until July 23 at Kennesaw State University’s Stillwell Theater. Under the same inspired hand of director Jamil Jude, the new production features much of the original cast and crew, with a few notable fresh faces, including Adrienne Ocfemia as Henry, the titular book-eating boy. 

Henry’s adventures in paper-munching are inspired not so much by a love of books as an aversion to them. After his dog (Juan Carlos Unzueta) swallows his English textbook and is suddenly able to speak the language fluently, Henry begins to nibble. He soon discovers an osmosis-like talent for remembering all the information contained in the books he eats. Thus begins his quest to become the smartest person on Earth, until the perils of eating books whole — both for his own digestive system and for his schoolmates, who now have no books to read — force him to give up the habit.

Eventually, he comes around to reading and learning the old-fashioned way and realizes he can still become the smartest person on Earth, even if it takes a little longer. It’s a charming story, one that delivers some important messages, like overcoming a fear of failure and falling in love with reading, without a whiff of moral hectoring. 

Jeffers’ original book is light on text, leaving plenty of room for playwright Madhuri Shekar to fill in the story for the stage. She adds a chorus of characters around Henry — including his parents, classmates, teacher, pet dog and others — all played by a cast of four adults who support their pint-sized star with committed enthusiasm. No one’s stealing the kid’s spotlight here, nor could they: Ocfemia’s got it wrapped around her finger. It’s a demanding singing role — the music, by Christian Magby, with lyrics by Christian Albright, is refreshingly sophisticated for a children’s musical — and Henry’s onstage nearly the entire time. But Ocfemia, who caught our eye in Stage Door’s Peter and the Starcatcher, is game for the challenge, hitting her high notes and her harmonies clear as a bell. 

She couldn’t do it alone, of course. This whole cast shines mightily, with a caliber of professional talent that children’s theater deserves but doesn’t always get. Unzueta and Alexandria Joy are both standout vocalists, and Brad Raymond was endlessly hilarious to audience members of all ages, turning even quick costume transitions into comedy.

Brooke Blackwell, here understudying Rhyn McLemore, was charming as Henry’s concerned teacher and mother, and she and Raymond made great hay out of a sequence in which Henry, full to the brim with pulped books, has lost command of English and instead hears the adults squawking as in Peanuts cartoons. 

The otherwise-sterling professionalism wobbles a little with the choreography — I can’t say anyone’s dance career is going to take off after this show — but choreographer Danielle Swatzie has given these singer-actors just enough to do with their feet to make the ensemble numbers feel sprightly and fun.

The whole production is a worthy homage to Jeffers, but nowhere more so than in its staging. Scenic designer Kat Conley’s magnificent set artfully imitates the collage-like textures of the book illustrations and moving set pieces keep the pacing brisk. A few choice elements of puppetry are brilliantly employed, including an enormous Henry into whose chomping mouth the cast throws whole books. In the runaway hit number of the show, when the books Henry’s eaten begin to menace his dreams, the adult actors sing their hearts out from within life-size papier-mâché books with sinister little arms. It’s the kind of magical surrealist staging that turns a child into a lifelong theater lover. 

Sound design (Jeremiah Davison) and lighting (Ben Rawson) are also having a field day with this production: One very well-timed and well-lit flatulence joke managed to make everyone laugh. In a show with this much theatrical dazzle, the sole disappointment was Henry’s actual consumption of books. While he does swallow a few bites of paper (rice paper, we learned in the post-show discussion), I’d have loved a more creative way to see him eat whole books. He is the incredible book-eating boy, after all. 

Though it has a production value worthy of any adult show, this is children’s theater through and through. It’s a snappy 45 minutes with no intermission, so even the wiggliest of kids should have no problem seeing it through. Weekend performances extend the entertainment with an optional post-show talk-back, where kids can ask the cast questions. Fun, funny and full of whimsy, The Incredible Book Eating Boy is sure to stoke a hunger for knowledge — and theater.

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Rachel Garbus is a writer, editor and oral history maker in Atlanta. She’s a contributor at Atlanta magazine and the editor-in-chief of print for WUSSY Mag, which covers queer culture with a Southern lens. She performs improv and sketch comedy around town and has been known to pen the odd satire. She lives in North Druid Hills with her wife and her anxious dog.