Mumabulous is changing her name to Bumabulous for this review. Yesterday I took the girls to the Monkey Baa Theatre Company’s production of The Bugalugs Bum Thief at the Darling Quarter, Darling Harbor.

The play is an adaptation of Australian literary icon Tim Winton’s 1991 children’s novel. Its a delightful example of what three talented and energetic actors can do with very simple set and storyline. As the stage lights up we are introduced to school mates, Skeeter Anderson, Mick Misery and Billy Marbles. The boys are proud residents of the sleepy fishing village of Bugalugs. Apparently nobody remembers how their town got such a silly name but its doesn’t stop Bugalugs folk from loving their seaside haven. The other notable thing about the townsfolk is their prominent derrières. In fact Bugalugsians sport the kind of “junk in the trunk” that would do  Kim Kardashian or Nicki Minaj proud.

One day the town is rocked to the core when the residents wake up to find their well formed  posteriors are missing. Its up to Skeeter Anderson and his hapless friends to solve the mystery of the missing bums and locate the stash of “booty”.

You might expect a show about bums to be an hour of non stop fart humor. Mercifully it isn’t. Rather the comedy focuses on the absurdity of getting through life without a rear end. There’s plenty of slap stick as the characters try and fail to sit down, ride a bike and keep their voluminous pants up. The flash of silk boxers is the (ahem) butt of numerous jokes. Everyone in town is discombobulated except for class clown Mick Misery. For him having no bottom, means his fishwife of a mother has nothing to smack.

Aaaargh – Bugalugs is a bottomless pitt.

The show is high energy and the actors keep up a cracking pace for its one hour duration. They do a fantastic job of playing all of the townsfolk moving effortlessly through a series of colorful caricatures. There’s plenty of singing and dancing as well as audience participation.  In the end we all learn to appreciate our bottoms just a little bit more. As the song goes -

A bum is an important part of your anatomy.

There are things galore

that you need them for.

But most of all bums are funny.

Mumabulous Verdict: 7/10

A face paced romp, ideal for ages 4 to 8.  Dare I say its a “bumabulous” way to introduce your kids to live theater. Team the show with a frolic in the marvelous water playground and a treat at the newly opened Guylian Cafe and you’ve had an unbeatable family day out.

Splish Splash in the water playground.

P1′s( aged 5) Verdict: That was pretty funny. I want to come here again tomorrow. Can we please come here again tomorrow? When are we coming back here?

P2′s ( aged nearly 3) Verdict: We saw a movie with silly bums.

Special thanks for Dadabulous for driving us into Darling Harbor, shouting us lunch at sushi train and supervising the mayhem in the water playground.