{"id":364942,"date":"2025-08-06T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?p=364942"},"modified":"2025-08-06T12:00:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T16:00:47","slug":"the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe-enchants-at-museum-of-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2025\/08\/06\/the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe-enchants-at-museum-of-the-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ enchants at Museum of the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Originally published February 26, 2025)<\/em><\/p>\n

Following the success of its three prior touring productions at the Museum of the Bible\u2019s World Stage Theater (two runs of The Horse and His Boy<\/em><\/a> in 2023, Prince Caspian<\/em><\/a> in the spring of 2024, and The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em><\/a> last fall), the Academy of Arts Logos Theatre, based in Taylors, South Carolina, has for the first time chosen to launch a national tour in Washington, DC, with its adaptation of C.S. Lewis\u2019 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Aslan the Lion and the Witch (Nicole Stratton) in \u2018The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.\u2019 Photo courtesy of The Academy of Arts Logos Theatre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seventy-five years after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/em> first appeared in print, the Logos Theatre\u2019s adaptation of it, written, directed, and choreographed by Academy of Arts Artistic Director Nicole Stratton, immediately draws audiences into World War II\u2013era London and from there to the English countryside, where four siblings are being evacuated to escape the bombings. (Much like the professor who greets them at his country home, played with comically exaggerated eccentricity and absentmindedness by Noah Stratton, Lewis hosted child evacuees during the war.) When the youngest child, Lucy (played by Alice Johnson with an endearing mix of vulnerability, curiosity, and spunk), claims to have found a magical world called Narnia in a wardrobe in one of the professor\u2019s many spare rooms, her siblings react in entirely believable ways. Edmund (Emmett Yopp), the next youngest, bullies and mocks her as the only person in his life he can punch down to. Peter (Brinton Stratton) and Susan (Bethany Bliss), trying desperately to be responsible older siblings in the absence of their parents, are concerned that Lucy is coping with the trauma of wartime, displacement, and family separation by engaging in escapism, and worry that she is lying or has gone mad.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Pevensies enter Narnia: Alice Johnson, Brinton Stratton, Bethany Bliss, and Emmett Yopp in ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.\u2019 Photo courtesy of The Academy of Arts Logos Theatre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yet as the siblings soon find out when first Edmund and then all four end up entering Narnia through the wardrobe, Lucy (as she has stridently maintained) was not engaging in escapism but truly found another world. Fleeing from war and tyranny in their own world, the children find themselves caught up in it in Narnia, where the White Witch (Nicole Stratton) rules by force, manipulation, and magic and keeps the land frozen in a state of eternal winter. In their own world, the children are sent away from the air raids in London in an attempt to shield them from the reality of war and are constantly told to keep out of sight and out of trouble at the professor\u2019s country home by his uptight housekeeper, Mrs. Macready (Lydia Miller). In Narnia, they are seen as the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy and immediately taken seriously by the Witch, who seeks to kill them as a threat to her power, and by a pair of beavers (Christian Lamas and Jennifer Swain) who risk their own lives to deliver the children to the great Lion Aslan, setting in motion an epic battle between good and evil.<\/p>\n

The Logos Theatre uses an expansive cast and crew to keep the adventure (and its many parts!) moving seamlessly. Jesse Gould\u2019s set design and Jeremiah Gould\u2019s visual effects, including projections on the side and back walls of the theater, use every inch of the World Stage Theater space and give the illusion of a much larger world. Movable set pieces, including the titular wardrobe, the Beavers\u2019 stick-framed home, and the imposing Stone Table, are skillfully rotated between scenes, often concealing or setting up character and costume changes. The characters walk through the aisles to the right and left of the stage, and between the two sections of the orchestra seating, immersing audiences in the story. My eight-year-old and I sat in the back row of the first orchestra section and experienced a great thrill when the life-sized puppet Aslan (designed and operated by a team of puppeteers led by Justin Swain) walked right behind us, near enough to touch.<\/p>\n

See below: “A Q&A with Yisak Estifanos (age 8) about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The crisp pacing, scene transitions, and use of the aisles for the characters to walk through are so effective in most of the play that the rare occasions where it’s done less well stand out. This chiefly occurs when Edmund leaves the Beavers\u2019 house and heads to the White Witch\u2019s castle near the end of the first act. In the book (and in the late-1980s BBC television series), Edmund\u2019s journey through the snowy night forest to the castle is miserable, causing him to question his decision. In this play, Edmund’s abrupt appearance at the Witch’s castle almost immediately after leaving the Beavers’ home feels like a missed opportunity to engage with his character’s inner and outer struggles.<\/p>\n

Puppetry, props (Kayla Goodfellow), costumes (Lucy Parker), and makeup (Rachel Maciejack and Rachel Sorgius) blend especially well to imbue Nicole Stratton\u2019s White Witch and her wolves, led by Harrison Winkley as Maugrim, with icy terror. In one of the Logos Theatre\u2019s few artistic liberties with Lewis\u2019 text, the White Witch rides in a sleigh pulled by snarling, armored wolves instead of reindeer, adding to her intimidation factor from the moment she appears on stage. (So fearsome were the wolves that I half expected them to turn and snap at the Witch\u2019s dwarf driver whenever he cracked his whip at them!)<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u2022 Meeting the White Witch: Nicole Stratton, Emmett Yopp, and Harrison Winkley in \u2018The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.\u2019 Photo courtesy of The Academy of Arts Logos Theatre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

C.S. Lewis wrote in 1956<\/a>, after publishing the final volume in his seven-part Chronicles of Narnia, that \u201cThe Fantastic or Mythical is a Mode available at all ages for some readers; for others, at none. At all ages, if it is well used by the author and meets the right reader, it has the same power\u2026\u201d Seventy-five years after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/em> first appeared in print, its story of adventure and redemption, of power that seeks to dominate and destroy countered by power that sacrifices itself to restore and to heal, remains resonant on both page and stage. Viewers of all ages willing to immerse themselves in the fantastic and mythical will find much to enjoy in the Logos Theatre\u2019s adaptation of Lewis\u2019 tale and its reminder that even the coldest and darkest of winters eventually turn toward spring.<\/p>\n

Running Time: Approximately two hours and 40 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission with presentation from event sponsor Compassion International.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:\u00a0<\/strong>Back by popular demand, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/em><\/strong><\/a> returns from August 29 through October 19, 2025, presented by The Academy of Arts Logos Theatre,<\/a>\u00a0performing at the World Stage Theater <\/a>on the fifth and sixth floors of the Museum of the Bible<\/a>, 400 4th Street SW, Washington, DC. Tickets ($59\u2013$85) are available for purchase online<\/strong>,<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>at the Museum, or by calling (866) 430-MOTB.<\/p>\n

For a limited time, exclusive free backstage passes<\/strong> are available with code FREEBSP. Backstage passes after the final show each day include:<\/p>\n

A meet and greet with the cast
\nAn up-close experience with the puppets
\nA behind-the-scenes look at how the production was made<\/p>\n

This offer is available only for opening-weekend shows, August 29 to September 1, 2025, and there are only 50 backstage pass tickets per show.<\/p>\n