NATE THE GREAT Comes to Imagination Stage

Imagination Stage™, the metro DC region’s largest professional theatre for children, provides a light-hearted and colorful treat for ages 5 and up this summer with the musical  Nate the Great, running June 22 - August 11. Based on the popular book by Marjorie Sharmat, the show has a script by John Maclay, music by Brett Ryback, and lyrics by Maclay and Ryback. Imagination Stage’s Founding Artistic Director, Janet Stanford, directs. 

About the show: art matters in this musical mystery! A boy who loves detective work and calls himself ‘Nate the Great’ is thrust into solving not one, but two mysteries involving a cat, a dog, two friends, and a missing painting. All the while, he dreams of indulging in his favorite breakfast: pancakes! Full of quirky characters (including a memorable, larger-than-life dog puppet) and fun, this show brings the book to singing, dancing life. 

Director Stanford says that “child detective Nate the Great stands on the shoulders of other ‘greats’ like Sherlock Holmes, Sam Spade, and Nancy Drew. He’s smart and imaginative. And like all of his most popular predecessors, Nate has an eccentricity. He has a habit that he cannot and will not break–pancakes. This is the food that feeds Nate’s mind. And as the lyric tells us in this musical mystery, ‘Pancakes always save the day.’”

In the cast are Lily Burka, Tyler Dobies, Patricia Hurley, Kalen Robinson, and Caelyn D. Williams. The creative team includes Music Director Deborah Jacobson, Choreographer Ashleigh King, Scenic Designer Andrew Cohen, Costume Designer Johanna Presby, Lighting Designer Alberto Segarra, and Gordon Nimmo Smith is Sound Designer. Dre Moore is designing props and the large puppet of Fang the dog. Maddie Friedman is Stage Manager.

Robinson and Burka return after recent appearances in other Imagination Stage shows: Robinson played Kameeka in The Hula-Hoopin’ Queen, and Burka played Sister Bear in Wake Up, Brother Bear. Both are recent college graduates, and exemplify the way Imagination Stage serves as a launching pad to early career talent.

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