Let me state first that I thought the musicians all sang well and the musical numbers were delivered in an entertaining manner but was not enough to compensate for what seemed to me quite underwhelming for a professional stage show.
My disappointment rests in the following areas:
Time -
The program was barely an hour in length. Maybe this is normal for the family series and children’s programing, but from the perspective of the children with me (ages 9, 7 and 4), they all were surprised that it seemed so short. It just seems like a hefty admission price for something that lasted shorter than most school programs I have seen. Perhaps the thinking is that since there were activities beforehand available the cost is justified - I do not agree. The show itself should be worth the admission price.
Props and staging -
The props used to convey the story seemed equivalent to what we might do around the house with our imaginations. I have seen better use of creativity and props at school programs than what was offered through the paid professional venue.
Maybe this was on purpose because the story line wrapped around the children doing thier own program when the power went out; if so, I get it. However, Magic School bus is in fact magical. Besides the bubble machines blowing bubbles as molecules, the rest was less than magical. I know it doesn't take much to convey a magical environment to children, but this did not seem to make a worthwhile attempt.
Content -
Though I realize there is importance in teaching children the skills and responsibility of resource conservation and not wasting energy, I felt the content was agenda-filled, environmental rhetoric that sounded more political than educational and left us with the suggestion that mankind is the most evil of all aspects of the natural world and that our own existence is an intrusion. I came away wondering of my children were going to ask if it was okay to exhale in their natural environment for fear of displacing too much carbon dioxide. It is one thing to make a point, and another thing entirely to instruct and attempt to indoctrinate children into thinking they and their parents are to blame for all the concerns in the environment. With all the fascinating elements of science and nature to explore for an hour (or more) through song, this was a bad pick.