Lewis, Pals Have Been Playing All Along

A new generation discovered Shari Lewis and her puppet pal Lamb Chop when her new PBS series, “Lamb Chop’s Play Along,” began airing recently.

It was no comeback for the multitalented Lewis, however. She has never stopped performing. For more than 30 years, she has been touring the country as puppeteer and ventriloquist, dancer, musician and orchestral conductor. She’s also made several home videos and written children’s books.

Her next live performance is at the Norris Theatre in Palos Verdes on March 12-13 and is “very much a family show,” Lewis said, not for kids only.

“I do lots of comedy, I dance with enormous puppets,” including “a 5-foot, 8-inch puppet of Fred Astaire, I’ll work with a geriatric kangaroo and I’ll probably do the entire story of ‘Carmen’ in five minutes and 40 seconds, with all the original melodies.”

Lamb Chop and Hush Puppy will be there, too, of course.

Lewis, who began performing as a toddler with her magician father, Abraham B. Hurwitz, communicates unquenchable energy. Her secret? “I like what I do,” she said. “I won’t burn out. If you follow your heart, your heart sings and you just dance to that music.”

An instant later, coming down to earth with characteristic humor, Lewis admits that there are a few performances she doesn’t “absolutely” love: “When I’m playing a state fair and there’s 11,000 people and . . . a parade of men in plaid shirts walking in front of you, leading cows.

“Also, you get cow pucky on your shoes.”

Shari Lewis, Norris Theatre, Crossfield Drive and Indian Peak Road, Palos Verdes, March 12-13, 8 p.m., $35, (310) 544-0403.

Croak, Croak: The princess sings the blues, the audience “ribbets,” and the good fairy runs off with the king in “The Princess and the Frog!,” Storybook Theatre’s latest production at Theatre West.

Written by Hope and Laurence Juber, co-authored by director Lloyd J. Schwartz, the musical is featherweight, but it scores with lots of audience participation, humor and an especially engaging performance by Tracy Carter as the Princess.

The show is for the youngest children--age 7 is probably the limit--but cast members Nancy Virsen as the fairy, Eugene Pack as the Prince/Frog and Jim Beaver as the King do a respectable job without patronizing. Carter provides a welcome dash of red blood, though, with her lusty comic presence. When she sits on the king’s knee and sings the bluesy “I’m Bored,” she’s a hoot.

The minimal, bland sets and mix-and-match costumes didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of a recent audience. They eagerly joined in on the “ribbet-croak” chorus, shouted advice to the leads and waved raised hands frantically every time volunteers were asked for.

“The Princess and the Frog!,” Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Saturdays, 1 p.m. Indefinitely. $6; (818) 761-2203. Running time: 1 hour.