At Dallas Children's Theater, Rapunzel! Rapunzel! A Very Hairy Fairy Tale, directed by Nancy Schaeffer, is letting the title character's hair down while bringing the house down with giggles of delighted young audiences. This is children's theater at its best, cast with top professional grown-ups — Erika Larsen as the imprisoned princess with golden locks; Denise Lee as evil stepmommy Lady Za Za; Zak Reynolds as a handsome knight; Jason Villareal as the hairdresser who knows a good head of curls when he sees it; Noelle Stanley as a wise old Gypsy; and Karl Schaeffer as the narrator-dragon.
Musical numbers by James Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman have a witty, contemporary bounce. "It's all about ME," sings Lady Za Za, in her testament to narcissism. Lee, wearing hair in twin traffic cones atop her head, gets her funniest role in years. It's OK if you boo her. Just don't insult her 'do.