Petite Rouge' makes tart gumbo of Red Riding Hood

• Synchronicity Theatre
• GIRLZ N DA HOOD: Renita James and Brian Harrison in 'Petite Rouge'

Synchronicity Theatre's family play Petite Rouge, playing through March 25 at the 7 Stages Backstage Theatre, transplants the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale to the bayous of Louisiana. Adapting Mike Artell and Jim Harris' picture book, Petite Rouge touches many of the same bayou bases as Disney's New Orleans-style Disney's Princess and the Frog film from 2009: alligators, riverboats, Mardi Gras, even wacky trappers. Together the two shows create a cumulative impression of a Louisiana theme park ride, but Petite Rouge nevertheless offers family-friendly entertainment that will keep adults engaged.

Joan Cushing's Cajunized version of the story recasts the characters as bayou animals, with precocious young Petite Rouge (Renita James) being a duckling, although the show only lightly implies the roles' beastly natures. Petite Rouge convinces her skeptical mother to allow the girl duck to take some spicy gumbo to her laid-up Grandmere. Petite Rouge's straight-arrow friend Tejean (Steven D. Brun) a cat who more closely resembles Urkel, accompanies her to make sure she doesn't get sidetracked. Instead of a crafty wolf, however, the tale features the crafty and ravenous alligator Claude, played as a flamboyant comedic villain by Brian Harrison.