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Review: A 6-year-old reviews ‘Bluey’s Big Play’

An image from "Bluey's Big Play."
(Darren Thomas)
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My review of “Bluey’s Big Play” by Henri Boo Biller, age 6, as told to Jessica Gelt.

There was a moment at the end of the play when my mom said, “These people don’t know kids!” Which was a funny thing to say at a show made for kids. She kind of said it between clenched teeth while I was crying and yelling, “That’s not fair!” with about 100 other little kids sitting in the balcony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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We were all crying and yelling because at the end of the play a bunch of balloons get tossed out to the audience for a game called “Keepie Uppy” that is super popular on the “Bluey” TV show. The kids closest to the stage got to hit the balloons back and forth — but the kids in the balcony section didn’t get any balloons tossed to us at all.

And we love balloons because they are round and shiny and fun, and so it was basically the most unfair thing in the world that we didn’t get any balloons at the end of the show and so we all started crying “as if on cue,” my mom said. Then we all jumped out of our seats and tried to rush to the edge of the balcony, which made our parents really nervous because they “are totally overprotective,” my uncle likes to say.

It was “kid mutiny,” my mom said.

Now in its third season, the beloved kids’ show ‘Bluey’ has become a global phenomenon. The natural next move was taking the screen smash to the stage, which arrives at the Dolby Theatre this weekend.

Then the worst thing in the whole world happened. Bubbles began to rain down from the ceiling. ONLY NOT IN THE BALCONY SECTION! And then we really started to cry. The bubbles were all soapy and bubbly and poppy and fun and wet and we had to watch all the kids down below run around like it was Christmas morning — smiling and laughing and yelling and basically taking a bubble shower, and it looked like the coolest thing in the world. And my best friend and I were just devastated. That’s when my mom said to my best friend’s mom the thing about these people not knowing kids.

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Except she was wrong — because besides the totally, horrible, no-good, rotten ending — the show was PERFECT! We loved it so much. We got to sit in a theater and watch Bluey and her family do all the things we like to watch Bluey and her family do on TV. We even got to see Chattermax, which my mom calls “the most obnoxious toy ever made,” but in the play it kept playing really loud music and flashing super bright lights and it was just so funny.

The play is about how Bluey’s dad won’t put his cellphone down, so Bluey and her sister steal it and hide it so Bluey’s dad will play with them again. This is what my mom calls “relatable.” Parents these days, always on their cellphones! I even saw one mom on her cellphone DURING THE PLAY!!! So it was really funny how Bluey hides her dad’s cellphone. I tried doing that with my dad’s cellphone when I got home, but he didn’t think it was very funny. My mom and I were cracking up, though.

The Times toured the Brisbane, Australia, studio where ‘Bluey’ comes together to understand what goes into making the best children’s show on TV.

Anyway, we had a really great afternoon at the theater. Kids should go to the theater more often. It makes your heart big and it’s good for your brain. I just think that balloons and bubbles should be for everyone.

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The end.

‘Bluey’s Big Play’

Where: Balboa Theatre, 868 4th Ave., San Diego
When: 6 p.m. Friday, 1 and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Tickets: Starting at $29
Info: sandiegotheatres.org
Running time: 55 minutes with no intermission

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