The City Dog and the Prairie Dog a tale of friendship – and evil developers – at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

A musical about a bored prairie dog is a fun one for the whole family from the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College.

The FAC’s production of the bilingual musical The City Dog and the Prairie Dog was originally commissioned by the Creede Repertory Theatre for their annual Young Audience Outreach Program. With books and lyrics by Diana Grisanti and music by Emiliano Messiez, the work is humorous, educational and enjoyable for young and old alike.

Paloma is a prairie dog tired of the lonely Mexican plain where she lives with her burrowing community. Paloma’s mother admonishes her that this is where she belongs but when her city tree squirrel cousin visits, Paloma can’t resist the siren call of adventure in the big city.

When Paloma arrives in Mexico City, however, her cousin is too busy to show her around. Overwhelmed by all the traffic and humans, Paloma is befriended by a stray City Dog, Sushi — so named for the dog’s favorite food.

Paloma and Sushi become fast friends but a letter from Paloma’s mother tells her that their beautiful plan is about to be destroyed by a developer with ideas for a golf course and retail shops. Paloma returns home to help save her community and, to her delighted surprise, Sushi comes with her. Together the two take on the destructive developer.

Directed by Iliana Lucero Baron, it’s a lighthearted romp that easily combines English and Spanish. For example, a character might say, “Are you lost?” in Spanish and the English response provides context to make the exchange clear. For this Anglo, it was seamless.

Audience participation

Prairie Dog is a two-hander and opens with the two actors, Ava Arangua Francis and Journee Dortch taking a page from melodrama and giving instructions for audience participation. They demonstrate how to bark like a prairie dog and hoot like an owl, for example. The young audience was down for getting into the act.

Francis and Dortch play the lead roles, Paloma and Sushi respectively, but also take on several other. The two were enthusiastic and seemed attuned to their young audience. There was no trace of condescension or cloying.

As the evil developer, Francis did a mean tap dance, replete with top hat and, in lieu of a cane, a golf club. In some of the musical numbers, Francis’ soprano voice, while quite sweet, occasionally lacked volume.

Dortch assumes a greater number and variety of roles and brought distinctive characterization to each one. However, too many of Dortch’s line deliveries for Sushi – who is an excitable character – were simply shouting and weren’t imbued with a range of emotions.

Jordan Hull’s costumes stylishly handled the need for successive quick changes by actors handling multiple roles. The glamorous owl costume, with a magnificent feather boa and sparkly sunglasses, made me wish that character had been on stage a bit longer.

The stage and scenic design by Brian Watson emphasized bright, primary colors. Dia de los Muertos flags and floral offerings surrounded a bright adobe dwelling on the main stage. At a level lower, a proscenium stage was painted to depict the complex underground burrows of the prairie dog community. The burrow walls surrounded small benches that the younger audience members were encouraged to occupy, giving them a front-row seat for the performance.

Lighting was well-timed to change with the various musical numbers, underscoring their mood. The music itself was more pleasant than memorable. In the end, the success of the show rests on the two performers. Francis and Dortch delivered with grace.