EAST AURORA, N.Y. — The Aurora Players opened their production of James and the Giant Peach on Friday October, 11 at the Historic Roycroft Theater.
They are the first theater company in Western New York to put on the full length musical production. They also put a unique spin on the show, including steampunk elements in both the costumes and set.
Director Rebecca Caufield said that the show's opening weekend was very successful.
She attributes that success partially to the fact that the show has a little bit of everything, "There's some jazz, there's salsa, there's everything you could think of in this show. There's lots of laughs, several very tender moments and it was just a wonderful wonderful experience. We had pretty close to sold out houses both Friday and Sunday," Caufield said.
The show is family friendly, they encourage families to bring children ages 7 and up to come and enjoy. They also do Q&A sessions after each Saturday matinee performance with the director and actors.
Danielle Horton stars in the show as James, a 7th grader at Hamburg Middle school, she said the whole experience has been really fun.
She has enjoyed learning from her older cast members, and enjoyed the experience of performing alongside her mom Jennifer, The Ladybug.
"It's amazing, we get to interact and the whole experience has really brought us closer together and makes the show just feel that much more connected to family," Horton said.
As a younger actress she said she has enjoyed the whole experience, especially getting into character, "It's so fun getting to act sad in one scene and happy in the next.
The show runs through October 27th, for the full list of shows and ticket information click here