THEATER REVIEW:’Ohmies’ as cute as a bug

The Falcon Theatre’s Children’s Show this summer, “The Ohmies,” was good enough to be imported over the hill to Burbank via the Geffen Playhouse down in Westwood, the Skirball Cultural Center off the 405 Freeway, and across the country via the 45 Bleecker Theatre in New York’s Off-Broadway district.

Promoting itself as a world of music, movement and creative problem-solving, “The Ohmies” is part mainstream toddler fare (think: a colorful and well-planned “Barney” road tour), part educational assembly program (think: shows you’ve seen at school while sitting on a hard, wood folding chair in a big auditorium with a bunch of rowdy classmates), and part yoga lesson (think: back to the floor mats and deep breathing exercises, only your instructor is a perky butterfly named Penny).

What are “Ohmies,” exactly?

Well, they are you and me. Ohmies are every living thing that grows from a seed into a flower, because Ohmland is inside the heart of every flower.

The plot has Penny and her friends traveling along on a journey to surprise the sun one morning, and to wave hello to it when it rises. On the way, they teach the little ones in the audience a basic Yoga pose and a basic life lesson with every original song. Bend and smell the flowers. Stand tall like a mountain. Tell the horrible, dreadful Worries, “I’m gonna dance.” As odd as this plot might look or sound on paper, it’s really a sweetly delightful little show, if a little too simplistic for the older children.

Tara Hunnewell, the original Penny the Butterfly during the Off-Broadway run, is like a lovely, kookie, charming version of the gorgeous Goldie Hawn from her “Laugh-In” days.

Can Ms. Hunnewell dance? She never misses a step-smile-step. Can she sing? She never misses a note-smile-note. Can she act? You bet. She gives a thousand percent, when a lot of children’s theater performers don’t have that much to start with.

Do the kids like her? Aw, come on. They adore her, because she adores them.

Co-Writer/Co-Producer Laurie Miller, maybe the one co-author who went the farthest in combining one part Disney Channel with one part cultural diversity to create something as unique as “The Ohmies,” is also outstanding as Poogle, Penny’s sidekick. It’s like Eugene Levy with a voice like Jimmy Durante’s, only prettier. How many people can say a line like “Flap, flap, wakie, wakie,” with a straight face? Miller can.

In fact, every cast and crew member of “The Ohmies” does a great job.

Ryan Heffington’s choreography works yoga poses into the musical numbers in a professional, creative and seamless way. All the music is played live and on stage, not pre-taped, by the solid three-member Bug Band, including super-cool Musical Director Ben Thomas on flute, keyboard, guitar and bongo drums.

Yes, everyone in the Bug Band is also in costume. Director Wade Gasque’s work on “The Ohmies” at the Geffen Playhouse earned him a nomination as Best Stage Director by the Beverly Hills Outlook, but not the award itself — which only goes to show that there are a lot of talented people who do great work in Children’s Theatre who never get adequately recognized for it.

When do the good times end?

Not even when everyone, including the Bug Band, is out in the lobby autographing programs after the show. There was Snake (co-writer Ben Tollefson with a dead-on sibilant Antonio Banderas accent) signing a program with his multi-colored felt tip pen, and asking his little fan, “Kristen? That’s spelled with three ‘S’s,’ right?”

But who cares what a reviewer thinks? Ask an audience member, and what will you hear?

“I want to see that play again. It’s fun.”