Culture | Theatre Sorry Blippi, I know we’re probably not going to be friends after what I have to say about your latest stage show, but feel it’s my public duty to give other parents the heads up. The orange and blue-loving YouTube entertainer and educator has practically achieved deity status among his pre-school audience over the past decade. Familiar with his online clips and cartoon spin-off, I thought I knew what I was getting into as my three-year-old and I settled down into our seats.
Nothing however could have prepared me for the one hour and five minutes of pure hell that followed. Things got off to an awkward start when Blippi’s “best friend” Meekah appeared on stage to kick off proceedings. She invited everyone to get up and dance, which not a single person in the sparse audience did.
The character is surprisingly underused, only appearing at the beginning and the end of the show. Blippi meanwhile is supported by a cast of “Blippi Pals” – nameless characters played by adults dressed in bright colours who prance around the stage like him and it just seemed weird. If not teaming him with Meekah (whom they kept reminding us was Blippi’s best friend), puppets would have been a more obvious option for a children’s show aimed at kids from two to six years old.
There was no plot, it was like watching random YouTube clips of Blippi songs such as The Excavator Song and Dinosaur Song. At one point Blippi had both a monster truck and an excavator on the s.