Editor's Note: This is the seventh installment of The Mom Review, a summer-long series of reviews of family-friendly theater, dance, art exhibits, etc., by iBerkshires Community Editor Rebecca Dravis and her 8-year-old daughter, Noelle, who hope to give you some ideas for summer family fun.

Wikipedia describes "Seussical" as a "rather complex amalgamation" of Dr. Seuss stories. After having seen it for the first time on stage at The Colonial in Pittsfield, I think that may be an understatement.

The production, Berkshire Theatre Group's ninth annual Children Theatre Production, was lovely and colorful and musical and energetic. The 100-plus community members of all ages that participated in it were fabulous. The costumes and sets were wonderful, and the special effects - particularly the flying over the stage - are sure to delight people of all ages. I just can't say enough good things about the production itself.

I just really didn't like the story itself. I love Dr. Seuss, and Noelle and I have amassed a large collection of his books. I used to read "Fox in Socks" over and over to her when she was littler, delighting in her giggles as I tripped over the tongue-twisters. I just don't think "Seussical" does Dr. Seuss justice. I love the reinforcement of the message - "a person's a person no matter how small" - but I think the real voice of Dr. Seuss is missing.

But maybe that's just me, and it has nothing to do with this production, which is fun and worth the (kind of steep) ticket price of $25/$30 for adults and $15/$20 for kids.

The production at The Colonial continues Thursday, Aug. 14, at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Friday, Aug. 15, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 16, at 2 and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 17, at 2 p.m. It's recommended for kids above the age of 4. Note that it does require some patience on the part of a young audience, particularly with the overture at the beginning and a couple of the "slower" songs, so beware if you have young fidgety children. And please don't bring babies and toddlers; this show is really not for them.

Now for Noelle: I liked it. It starts late so I wouldn't recommend it for younger children. I really loved the bathtub scene because all of the colors were so pretty and the flying/swimming over the stage.

Editor's Note: This is the sixth installment of The Mom Review, a summer-long series of reviews of family-friendly theater, dance, art exhibits, etc., by iBerkshires Community Editor Rebecca Dravis and her 8-year-old daughter, Noelle, who hope to give you some ideas for summer family fun.

How did I get 39 years into life without knowing the story of "Hairspray"?

I'm glad Noelle only had to go eight and a half, and I'm glad her first experience with it was Barrington Stage Company's Youth Theatre production of "Hairspray Jr."

Based on the film and Tony Award-winning stage musical of the same name, "Hairspray Jr." features the popular songs “You Can’t Stop the Beat” and “Good Morning Baltimore.” Filled with energetic dance numbers and unique characters, "Hairspray Jr." follows spunky plus-sized teen Tracy Turnblad as she pursues her dream of dancing on national television and navigates the racial tensions and stereotypes of the 1960s. Shows continue through Sunday, Aug. 10 at the Berkshire Museum: Wednesday and Thursday at 2 and 7 p.m., Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 for youths and $16 for adults.

Because I've never seen the original, I don't know how much the "junior" makes it a more family-friendly experience.

Kids under 5 are not allowed into this production, which makes sense, as it is a serious topic underneath the amazing energy of these teenage performers. At 8, Noelle had a hard time grasping the underlying issue of racism, though she absolutely loved the music, costumes and set.

The evening we saw this performance, it was followed by a community talk-back on race. We stayed for a little bit of that, but it was late and, again, the subject matter was over Noelle's head. What was most interesting, though, was the 30-minute car ride home and finding out just how over her head it was.

I'm sure it's not the same for all 8-year-olds. I'm sure there are children who have felt the sting of discrimination. But the fact that my daughter was genuinely puzzled by (a) how mean the girls were to the plump Tracy and (b) why black and white kids couldn't dance together made me hopeful that every generation becomes a little more tolerant to differences in shape, size, skin color, disabilities and more.

Yes, we live in Berkshire County, not known for its rampant multiculturalism. And yes, we personally live in Williamstown, a small town of mostly white people. So maybe it's easy for me to feel optimistic. But I'm happy to be a positive influence on my daughter as she grows up and starts to face these issues more directly. I'm happy to be able to say, "Some people thought those kids couldn't dance together because some had light skin and some had dark skin. Isn't that silly?"

During the talkback, the teens seemed more optimistic about the current state of race relations than the older people on stage. That sounds about right. Change is slow and all we can do is work toward a better future, one generation at a time, one community at a time and one family at a time.

The whole idea of "Hairspray" was puzzling to my 8-year-old. I hope in 10 years, or 20 years, the premise will be even more puzzling to children who watch it. Thank you, Barrington Stage, for a wonderful evening and giving us food for thought. And to those amazing teenage actors ... bravo!

Editor's Note: This is the fifth installment of The Mom Review, a summer-long series of reviews of family-friendly theater, dance, art exhibits, etc., by iBerkshires Community Editor Rebecca Dravis and her 8-year-old daughter, Noelle, who hope to give you some ideas for summer family fun.

LENOX, Mass. — A visit to the Rose Footprint Theatre at Shakespeare & Company is a highlight of our summer. The comedy staged annually in the tented theater is always entertaining, interactive and very kid-friendly.

This year's "The Servant of Two Masters" is all of those, but it wasn't as funny as previous Rose shows. It also has the misfortune of being up against "The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)," which is playing in the Tina Packer Playhouse and is the funniest thing I have seen a very long time. (Read the Mom Review here.)

So while I was entertained, I did not laugh as much as maybe I would have liked.

The play is an adaptation of this classic Commedia dell’arte farce by Carlo Goldoni and features an energetic cast of young local actors. It tells the story of an outrageous and crafty servant, Truffaldino, a threadbare clown in mad search of food, money and attention. In one implausible day, Truffaldino simultaneously ends up with two masters and two jobs – and what Truffaldino doesn’t know is that his masters are star-crossed lovers, and one of them is only disguised as a man. But they aren’t the only lovers in town as two impatient old parents attempt to plan a wedding between children that will bring the highest return on their investment. Truffaldino’s predicament stirs up a ridiculous chain of events as he sets out to keep his double service concealed, find romance himself - and get some dinner.

I think the main reason I did not find this play as funny as previous performances was that it just slightly TOO over the top, slightly TOO dramatic for my tastes. It was almost like watching a cariacture of a really good farce.

Kids, though, always seem to love it. Noelle was entertained, though she did not understand the story, which is common with fast-paced productions that have multiple plot twists. Kids will just enjoy it for what it is: colorful costumes, amusing songs, sword fighting, actors running through the audience and around the theater interacting with the audience, etc. There was a baby fussing in the back of the show we saw, so I would recommend caution with infants and toddlers, but preschoolers on up should find it an enjoyable 80 minutes.

Now for Noelle: It was really funny. I like how they come up and down the aisles. And I like the song at the beginning where they sing about the rules. I loved the sword fighting. My favorite part was the scene in the dining room where they sang about dinner. I would go see it again.

The show runs through Aug. 23 on Fridays, Saturdays and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are free for students and $15 for adults. For tickets and information, visit shakespeare.org.

Editor's Note: This is the fourth installment of The Mom Review, a summer-long series of reviews of family-friendly theater, dance, art exhibits, etc., by iBerkshires Community Editor Rebecca Dravis and her 8-year-old daughter, Noelle, who hope to give you some ideas for summer family fun.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williamstown Theatre Festival is not necessarily known to be as community-minded as some of the year-round theater companies in the Berkshires. But they do stage a piece of free theater every year, and this year's offering was "Robin Hood," performed in the Poker Flats area of Williams College. On a lovely and cool opening night, Noelle and I went to see the play.

I'm not a theater critic, and this column is not meant to be a theater review. It is meant to give families information on whether particular plays would interest their children. However, with this play, I'm finding it difficult to separate the two.

I did not enjoy this play. Noelle didn't, either. It had nothing to do with WTF's capabilities or the atmosphere (as muddy as it was) of theater under the stars. We saw "The Comedy of Errors" there in 2011 and thought it was hysterical and "Dracula" there last year and found it chillingly entertaining. The problem with "Robin Hood" was that it didn't know if it wanted to be a comedy or a drama. Obviously "The Comedy of Errors" is a comedy and "Dracula" is a drama, but "Robin Hood" really could go either way. And if it had gone one way or the other, we might have enjoyed it more.

Instead, it started out with some very serious actors with some very serious accents. Noelle had trouble understanding the beginning, and to be honest, I did, too. I never think it's a good idea for emerging performers to try accents, especially in outdoor theater, where you never know what noise is going to interfere with the extra listening required to decipher the language. I understand from WTF's perspective, this is the perfect place for them to hone their accent skills, but it just didn't work out for me this night.

But as the play went on, it seemed to lighten up, become more comedic, even as the actors' accents started to slip until Sherwood Forest sounded like an international melting pot. We liked the second half more than the first because all of a sudden, we were watching something much funnier and more entertaining. And who doesn't love to laugh?

Also confusing to both of us was the use of one actor for two roles, a convention used several times in this play. The subtle transformation born from the necessity of a fast-paced outdoor play did not separate the characters with enough distinction for Noelle (and me, too) to keep a grip on who was who in the beginning. (And once I realized this was happening, I would have sworn the bishop and the friar were the same actor.) It became even more confusing when suddenly near the end some costume changes happened right in front of us on stage. Maybe the director thought that was funny? It might have been, if it happened throughout the play and not just near the end.

So from one mom to another, think twice about taking younger children to this play, for all the reasons above plus that it doesn't start until 7:30 p.m., doesn't end until after 9:30 p.m. and is staged in a wet and muddy field with only two portable toilets on site. Older kids - tweens and teens - might enjoy it. And maybe after opening night they realized what worked and what didn't and tweaked it some. Good theater companies do that, and WTF is a good theater company.

Of course, it's free, so you really have nothing to lose, and you can always leave during intermission.

Now for Noelle: I liked the music and sword fighting in this play. Some of it was funny. I don't think I want to see it again, though.

"Robin Hood" continues July 18, 19, 22, 23, 24 and 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Poker Flats Field on the Williams College campus. For more information, click here.

Editor's Note: This is a third installment of The Mom Review, a summer-long series of reviews of family-friendly theater, dance, art exhibits, etc., by iBerkshires Community Editor Rebecca Dravis and her 8-year-old daughter, Noelle, who hope to give you some ideas for summer family fun.

If laughter is the best medicine, I most certainly was drugged Friday night by the time I left the premier of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox.

As for Noelle ... well she laughed a lot, too, but I'm not sure she always knew exactly what she was laughing at.

"The Complete Works" features three actors attempting to perform all of Shakespeare’s plays in less than two hours. A feverish version of "Romeo and Juliet" kicks off the evening, and a rousing rendition of "Hamlet" concludes it. The other 35 plays were sandwiched in between in entertaining, amusing and culturally relevant ways that I won't spoil by giving any more details. I seriously have not laughed like that in I don't know how long.

“This is what many scholars over the years have referred to as ‘a romp,” says director Jonathan Croy. “Think of it as a ‘Survey’ of Shakespeare’s work — you remember, like those ‘Survey’ History classes they used to have in high school, where you ‘study’ the entire history of the world in three-and-a-half hours a week and then have to write a thousand word paper on the totality of the social, economic and political forces in 17 countries spread out all across Europe in the '30s and early '40s that then resulted in World War II … this is like that.”

Not really, but the description was interesting enough to appeal to us. Noelle and I decided to go see it because it was billed as "something special for audiences of all ages." There is, however, the following warning in the program: "Although there is nothing in this play that would offend children, the cast wanted to forewarn parents that strong language, like 'varlet,' 'calumnious,' 'rabbit-sucker' and 'fart' will be in use."

I'm not sure after seeing it I would agree that there is nothing that would offend children. I think it's more likely that children around Noelle's age are not going to get any of the offensive jokes (and I doubt children any younger than her would sit through it, as it runs more than two hours, albeit with one 15-minute intermission).

Don't get me wrong: It's clearly less offensive than most of what children see on television and in the movies. Most of the inappropriate jokes were sexual in nature, and as I said, they went right over Noelle's soon-to-be-third-grade head, and appeared to be going over the heads of the handful of other kids in the audience. 

Teenagers and precocious pre-tweens, however, will get the jokes, so it's up to you to decide your comfort level. If you don't mind a little bit of raunchiness (which shouldn't really come as a surprise with Shakespeare, anyway), your kids might actually learn to appreciate The Bard. 

Their high school English teachers will thank you.

Now for Noelle:  It was hysterical. I really liked the end, where they did the fast version and backward version of "Hamlet." That was so cool. I didn't quite understand some of it, mostly "Hamlet." It didn't seem like they were following a script, which was a good thing. It seemed more natural. I learned that Shakespeare has a lot of puking. Of course I would go see it again.

"The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)" runs in the Tina Packer Playhouse through Aug. 24. For tickets and information visit www.shakespeare.org or call 413-637-3353.