Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical! opens at the Randy Weeks Conservatory Theatre on Friday, October 23, and runs through December 20. It's the Denver Center for the Performing Arts' annual Theatre for Young Audiences production, and this time it's based on Mo Willems' picture book. The cast is led by Denver-based actors, and the whole thing is built for Pre-K through third grade audiences.

If you've read the book, you know the premise: a pigeon who desperately wants to drive the bus and will try every trick in the book to get his way. The stage version turns that into a high-energy, interactive musical packed with playful songs, puppets and laugh-out-loud surprises. It runs about an hour with no intermission, which is just about the right length for that age group. The story has since grown into a series of more than 15 books, and the humor works for readers of all ages, so it's not just for the kids.

Behind the scenes, Mo Willems wrote the book and the lyrics, with Mr. Warburton co-writing the book and Deborah Wicks La Puma on music. Allison Watrous directs. The show was commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and first produced there during the 2019-2020 season. The Randy Weeks Conservatory Theatre has served more than 210,000 Pre-K through third grade children in its first eight years, so it's a space that knows how to handle a young audience.

Tickets are $24 to $30, which includes a 10% city seat tax, plus an 18% service fee. If you're taking a school group or just looking for a deal, there are $14 student matinees on weekdays from October 23 through December 18. For those who need it, there's an accessible performance with ASL interpretation and audio description on November 8 at 1:30 PM.