A new take on 'Pinocchio'

If your children need any reminder about why it's inadvisable to tell a lie, you can have nearly a dozen teachable moments, courtesy of Raleigh Little Theatre.

"Pinocchio, a New Musical Play," acted and produced by kids for kids, begins a nine-day run today.

Each summer, Raleigh Little Theatre hosts a five-week summer conservatory called Teens on Stage. In the morning, students attend classes in movement, voice, character development, acting and stage combat. In the afternoons, they rehearse. Eventually, they perform a show for the public.

This year, it's a story about a slab of wood, a tale of a wooden marionette turned little boy.

At the same time, a Teens Backstage program introduces technically minded teens to set construction, painting, lights, props and other aspects of theater production. It's these teens who make sure the show runs smoothly.

In the opening scene, actors on stage decide which story they're going to do. The actors want it to be about a king or a wicked witch, maybe a frog or a duck. But the storytelling actor decides that the story is going to be about a stick of wood.

The show, which is not Disney-sanctioned, has changed some characters' names - Jiminy Cricket, for example, goes by Antonio. But the rest of the story is familiar.

There is the kind carpenter Gepetto, who decides to shape a scrawny piece of wood into a marionette. The marionette -- Pinocchio -- comes to life and embarks on a journey that leads him full circle.

First, he runs away into town. He joins a marionette troupe, anticipating a life of excitement. But he is disillusioned when Fire Eater, the head of the troupe, turns out to be a pretty mean guy. Fire Eater gives Pinocchio a gold coin to buy him some vittles -- chicken and wine, in this case -- but another marionette urges Pinocchio to make a break for it, to go back home where he belongs.

Good idea, he thinks, but on the way he runs into Fox and Cat, the ultimate con artists.

"They do a song and dance, literally, to entice him," said director Linda O'Day Young, who heads the youth theater program.

They show him where he can bury the gold coin so it will sprout into a money tree. While Pinocchio sleeps, they dig up the coin.

Meanwhile, Pinocchio dreams that Gepetto is looking for him and may be in trouble.

He races off and tries to find Gepetto, but he collapses. Dr. Owl and Dr. Crow scoop up the bedraggled marionette and take him to the Blue Fairy.

"Where have you been?" she wonders.

He makes up lie after fanciful lie, and his nose elongates with each falsehood.

The teens' production includes kids playing thunder, rain and lightning. There is also an impressive black-lit underwater scene.

Eventually, of course, Pinocchio finds his dad and becomes a real, live little boy.

All because he has learned his lesson: A real boy obeys the rules, loves his parents and appreciates the importance of home.