Plenty of people – parents and their kids, mostly – have heard of Captain Underpants, the tighty whitey-wearing superhero who fights crime with his unique “wedgie power.”
Perhaps fewer have heard of the spin-off character Dog Man, also created by writer and illustrator Dav Pilkey: He’s a hero with the head of a dog sewn onto the body of a policeman, who also fights crime despite being nonverbal and prone to canine habits like chewing on furniture.
Well, now Dog Man has his own theatrical production. Running for one weekend at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre, “Dog Man: The Musical” (recommended for ages 6-10) chronicles the adventures of the titular hound as he strives to save his city from the villainous Flippy the cyborg fish.
There’s plenty to delight young theater-goers, from slapstick to singing to “Petey, the world’s most evil cat, who has cloned himself to exact revenge on the doggy do-gooder,” according to the show’s organizers. If that seems too intense for tots, there is one intermission where they can put themselves back together by eating sugary theater concessions.
Details: The 80-minute show runs January 4-5 at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., San Francisco; tickets start at $48 and are available at broadwaysf.com.
