Bluey's Big Play

 

If you’re reading this, it’s very likely you’ve at least heard of Bluey, the Emmy award-winning Australian preschool show featuring the Heelers, a family of anthropomorphic dogs. Since it first started airing in 2018 on ABC Kids in Australia, as well as on Disney Junior in the US and internationally on Disney+, the show’s popularity has only grown, both among its target demographic and adults with or without children. So much so, in fact, that it spawned a live stage show, appropriately titled Bluey’s Big Play, that started in its native Australia in early 2021, followed by a US tour in late 2022 that’s still going as of this writing.

Like many others, I first heard about Bluey through social media, in my case Facebook ads promoting the Disney broadcast. The more I saw these ads, and later sightings of merchandise, the more my curiosity grew until I finally caved in and watched the first episode through Disney+. From that moment, I was hooked and soon enough, I had caught up with the entire show as made available in the US. Despite its status as a preschool show, Bluey focuses on simply being a good show, with great writing that doesn’t talk down to its target audience, high-quality animation, great music without being a musical and, best of all, an actual positive depiction of family life that emphasizes the importance of play in a child’s development.

At some point while watching the show, we stumbled on upcoming performances of Bluey’s Big Play at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. After careful consideration, we bought tickets to the Sunday 2:00 performance, the final one for the venue. Though well worth the money, it’s best suited for those who are already familiar with the show, no matter who they are.

I’ll start by briefly mentioning that we ran into an issue getting into the theater where the ticket taker couldn’t scan our digital tickets. As such, we had to go down to the box office and get physical tickets printed out so we could actually get through the door. On the upside, we actually prefer owning physical tickets of shows we’ve been to, so we got a unique souvenir out of it.

Once we finally sat down, we had a much better time. Without going too much into the story, since it’s the only one they have, Bluey’s Big Play fits right in with the show, as it’s basically an extended episode. The play depicts a day in the life of the Heeler family that touches on an important lesson of sisterhood. While the story, written by series creator Joe Brumm, does include elements from different episodes of the show, including an extended recreation of the opening theme and an appearance from the “Grannies”, the plot is unique to the show. The entire performance runs a short but sweet fifty minutes, is very easy to follow and has a surprisingly emotional ending. As an added bonus, there aren’t any surprise musical numbers (unless you count Bluey and Bingo singing “Ten Green Bottles” for a few seconds) and the scant audience interactions are so mercifully short that they’re actually fun, even for adults.

Bluey and Bingo (right) want Bandit (David McCormack, left) to
play with them instead of looking at his phone.

Due to more relaxed COVID restrictions, the stage show added back in an additional interaction where the audience could play a game of “Keepy Uppy” with Bluey. Fortunately, Bluey plays this game at the end instead of stopping the plot cold. Unfortunately, if you’re sitting at a higher elevation in the venue, as we did, you can’t participate.

As for the production values, it’s clear that a lot of thought and passion went into the play. Each member of the Heeler family, as well as Lucky’s Dad, is represented with an impressive life-size puppet that not only faithfully translates the show’s art style to real life, but also allows for a wide range of movement and expression. Although the puppeteers are always visible onstage, they’re not too distracting, as they all wear neutral colors, including light or dark green, to better blend in with the backgrounds and let the audience focus on the puppets. This approach also lets the play get away with a very unique feature, and a big highlight of the show, where the audience gets to hear the Bluey voice actors’ pre-recorded and well-acted lines through the speakers instead of from an actor onstage. Performing to a pre-recorded track, which also includes original music from series composer Joff Bush, also arguably makes the puppeteers look even more impressive, as they skillfully lip-synch to the audio and move around the stage while expertly hitting their marks with little room for error.

From where I sat in the venue, cheap $39 seats in the second Mezzanine, I could tell that the stage and certain effects were designed with the floor audience in mind, though I could still easily see what was going on. This vantage point also gave a better view at how they had cleverly designed the sets not only for maximum portability, but to better serve multiple purposes during each performance. Simple backgrounds and minimal set designs not only convincingly place the audience within the Heeler household, but also incorporate a well-placed ramp in the center that lets the puppeteers onstage more easily move around while hiding others either activating special effects or moving props.

My view of the stage.

Following the show, we headed straight to the merch table hoping to snag some official Bluey’s Big Play merchandise. Unfortunately, they had run out of t-shirts in our sizes by the time we finally got to the front of the line, but we at least walked away with some exclusive merch, a button set and two Asparagus Wands (light-up spinner toys based on the episode “Asparagus”). I will also note that while the exclusives were already a little pricey, the non-exclusives, like plushies, a book and a Season 1 & 2 DVD set, were sold at a markup compared to retail. As such, if you’re looking to buy a souvenir, it would be better to emphasize something you can’t get anywhere else.

Since there doesn't seem to be a record of the
prices anywhere, here's what to expect.

If you’re a fan of Bluey, it’s almost a no-brainer to try and see Bluey’s Big Play if the opportunity presents itself. Of course, it’s always best to take the distance and cost of tickets into account, as prices may vary depending on the venue. If you’re considering the play and haven’t seen Bluey beforehand, it would be best to at least familiarize yourself with the show first.