The Velveteen Rabbit

About

This production of The Velveteen Rabbit is a musical adaptation by Pushcart Players designed for young audiences (ages 4 and up), presented at Paper Mill Playhouse. It emphasizes imagination and literacy in the arts, using minimal sets and suggestive costumes to invite children to co-create the world onstage. To bring Margery Williams’s 1922 story to contemporary viewers, the piece updates certain elements: the Skin Horse becomes the Riding Horse; new toy characters like Amelia the toy airplane and Diesel the steam engine join the nursery; and the “tea party in the woods” is reimagined as four seasonal adventures. The Boy’s Father is introduced as a character, and the darker moment of burning old toys is replaced with a theatrical, compassionate removal accompanied by a musically sophisticated song. The result is a gentle, fantasy-infused staging that highlights love, imagination, and what it means to become real.