'Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus' opens today at Croswell Opera House

ADRIAN — Twenty years ago, children’s book author Mo Willems introduced a new hero to young readers: Pigeon. And now, Pigeon stars in his very own show this weekend at the Croswell Opera House.

The musical version of Willems’ Caldecott Honor-winning book “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” opens at 6:30 p.m. today. Additional performances are at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 18, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 19. The show lasts just about an hour.

Saturday afternoon’s show is a sensory-friendly production that modifies the theater environment for children who are on the autism spectrum or have sensory processing difficulties.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children and are available online at croswell.org or by calling 517-264-7469.

In Willems’ book, which was the first in a series of books featuring Pigeon, Pigeon wants to save the day when a bus driver has a crisis that threatens to make the passengers late. Pigeon, who never gets to do anything he wants to and doesn’t even know how to fly, volunteers to fill in for the driver — except, well, the title of the book and musical says it all.

The Croswell’s production stars Reed Schwieterman as Pigeon. Kelly White is the Bus Driver, Tom Hodgman is the Hot Dog Vendor, the Business Man, and the Airplane Engine, while T.S. Sanger is the Duckling, the Bus Engine and the Bus, and the Bus Driver’s Mom. Chance Adkins plays the City Worker and a Teenager, and Haylie Blohm is the Little Old Lady.

Cristina Pellerano, who made her Croswell debut just last November as Doris in “Miracle on 34th Street,” directs the show. Wynne Marsh is the music director, Joe Dennehy is the choreographer, Leo Babcock is the scenic designer, and Sabriyah Davis is the costume designer.

Pellerano may be new to the Croswell, but her list of theatrical credits is a lengthy one. She has taught, directed, and acted in theaters including the Parker Playhouse in Florida, the Jekyll Island Musical Theater in Georgia, and the Little Theater of Gastonia in North Carolina.

Locally, she has worked with companies including the Ann Arbor Civic Theater, the Village Theater of Canton, and Shakespeare in the Arb, which takes place in the University of Michigan’s Nichols Arboretum.

As it so happens, Pellerano has a unique connection to “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!” She was a Barnes & Noble store manager the year the book came out, and was the happy recipient of a pigeon puppet sent out by the publishing company to bookstores to help promote the book.

“These books have been a part of my life,” she said, and she’s been very excited to see her vision, and that of the creative team’s other members, for the production coming to life on the Croswell stage.

As with any good children’s tale, there’s something in the show for the grown-ups too, with humor that works on multiple levels and references that adults will get but kids may not. In this production, for example, the way characters open windows and appear in them is a device straight out of the iconic TV show “Laugh-In.”

There are also things for fans of all of Willems’ books to discover. Pellerano has filled the production with a whole array of references to those other books.

“This theater’s going to be filled with tiny people who know this world (of the books) better than any of us,” she said. “I want them to find the Easter eggs in this show.”

When it comes to the music, there’s something in it for everyone there, too: The score has everything from salsa to doo-wop in it.

“There’s not a song in here that’s bad,” Pellerano said.

She hopes that the show sparks an interest in theater in her young audience members, many of whom will probably be seeing a live stage show for the first time. And, of course, just as in most children’s stories, there are life lessons too.

“Pigeon is pure impulse, which is why kids love him,” Pellerano said. “It’s the frustration of wanting things and not being able to have them.  … Pigeon doesn’t understand the world he’s in and not being able to have what he wants.”

And so, children — who, especially if they know the story, will likely be shouting at Pigeon during the show, telling him not to do what he’s about to do — can learn from Pigeon’s situation and how it resolves.

“To quote the Rolling Stones, you can’t always get what you want but you get what you need,” Pellerano said. In identifying with Pigeon, children can understand “there’s more to life than ‘what I want right now.’ … And you can not get what you want and it still works out.”

If you go 

WHAT: “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!”

WHERE: Croswell Opera House, 129 E. Maumee St., Adrian

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. today; 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 18; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 19. Saturday afternoon’s show is a sensory-friendly production

TICKETS: $15 adults, $8 children

HOW TO ORDER: Online at croswell.org or by calling 517-264-7469

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Preview: Croswell to stage young audience show March 17-19