‘Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience’ @ Dallas Childrens Theater
—Jan Farrington
Well, let’s get my one quibble out of the way.
Those mole rats were NOT naked.
Not once.
They sang enough about being naked to convince us they were, in fact, starkers. But considering much of the audience hadn’t begun to lose their baby teeth, the false advertising didn’t seem to bother anyone but me.
That said, Dallas Childrens Theater’s rock-musical production of popular author Mo Willems’ book Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed was fresh, funny—and kept a wiggly, chatty young audience in their seats for an hour of whimsical storytelling. The multi-talented Willems wrote both book and lyrics for the show, with music by Deborah Wicks La Puma. (Another of his book-to-musical transfers, Don’t Le the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, is a riot, btw. Catch it if it comes by.)
This was, for real, a small-fry lollapalooza, directed at high energy by Alli Betsill (though with nice pauses to let the show’s messages sink in). Be yourself, kids; there’s room for us all, nekkid or not.
Designer Leah Mazur’s fabulous set had me staring before I got to my seat: a series of curved proscenium arches, mysteriously textured and toned—and each one going deeper into the what’s-in-there recesses of Naked Mole Land. They would soon be edged by colored lights speeding along those curves in time to the music. Descending platforms allowed room for a whole lotta rockin’—and the wings of the stage space were taken up by 1) local radio station CNN (the Constantly Naked Network), and b) a hobbit-like home for the show’s main character, Wilbur (Henri Sudy)…who suddenly wants to get dressed, and stay dressed.
How does that happen? Well, down in the mole hole one day, a hat floats down to the floor, followed by other fascinating pieces of clothing. Wilbur is enchanted. Normally a shy, on-the-sidelines sort of rat, putting on that hat is only a start. Wilbur, stylin’ out, feels more “me” than ever before.
The first mole rat who sees the New Wilbur shrieks and runs away—but Wilbur keeps right on dressing up in ever-jazzier outfits (costumes by Kristina Miller). But the Naked Mole Rats are a “we’ve always done it this way” community: what will happen when they get a look at Wilbur? Nope, I’m not going to tell you. Grab a little one and go find out.
The tight cast includes Via Rubio, Karrington Sneed, and Brian Gibson (Tall, Grande, and Venti) as some of Wilbur’s friends, Elena Rosales as a Secret Service mole rat (w/ shades, of course), and Jonah Moon as a radio announcer and the very imposing Grand-pah (Moon has the resonant voice for both roles!), who plays a big part in how things come out. There are some strong singers in the mix—and with the help of musical director Adam C. Wright they bring off a pretty credible impersonation of “underground” rock’n’roll.
Flashy, colorful lights (but never blinding) are from designer Adam Chamberlin, the crisp sound (but never scary-loud) is by Marco Salinas, and the props are from Taylor Tindol. The busy stage manager is Emily Mordecai, and assistant director is Sienna Castañeda Abbott. I don’t know whose job it was to throw clothes down from the invisible heights of the stage space—but good going, you.
WHEN: October 3-18, 2026
WHERE: DCT, 5938 Skillman St., Dallas
WEB: dct.org
