Families will warm up to 'Mr. Popper’s Penguins' Feb. 11 at Eisenhower

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Dancing and singing puppets are expected to steal the show at a performance of “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11, in Eisenhower Auditorium.

The live-action musical production, based on the 1938 award-winning book by Richard and Florence Atwater, tells the story of an Oklahoma house painter and his wife who find themselves the unlikely owners of a pair of penguins.

As the birds grow, become smitten with each other and multiply, Mr. Popper decides to turn the brood into a circus act. Over time, though, he realizes a circus in the southern plains is no place for cold-climate creatures. So, he hatches a plan to make a new home for them at the North Pole.

“Children may wish the birds were real, but Nick Barnes’ ingenious life-size puppets … may be the next-best thing,” wrote a reviewer for The New York Times.

“Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” produced by Casa Mañana by arrangement with Kenny Wax Family Entertainment and TC Beech, features human actors, performing penguin puppets and original songs.

Kids Connections, which is free for ticket holders, takes place in Eisenhower one hour before the show. It includes a craft-centered, child-friendly activity provided by Discovery Space children’s science museum and science education graduate students from the Penn State College of Education. Due to space and time restrictions, Kids Connections participation is limited.

For more information, visit the Center for the Performing Arts online or call 814-863-0255.

McQuaide Blasko Endowment provides support for the presentation.

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