Audiences of all ages will love the frighteningly fun Walnut Street Theatre for Kids’ (WST for Kids’) production of R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS: Phantom of the Auditorium! On Sunday, we were happy to see one of America’s most popular children’s book series and its delightful thrills come to life on the historic Walnut stage.

R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS: Phantom of the Auditorium is based on the beloved book series from R. L. Stine and investigates the strange happenings during rehearsals of Brooke and Zeke’s school play. Is it a practical joke or is the school’s theater really haunted? We followed the two on a silly and (only a little) spooky musical mystery.

R.L. Stine is one of the best-selling children’s authors in history. In July 1992, Scholastic introduced his Goosebumps book series with Welcome to Dead House. Over 25 years later, Goosebumps is now one of the best-selling children’s series of all time—with more than 400 million copies in print in 32 languages. The series’ success was recognized locally in 2002 when R.L. Stine received the Philadelphia Free Library’s first ever “Champion of Reading” award.

As the series grew in popularity, Goosebumps has been adapted into a television series and three feature length films, one of which starred actor, comedian, and musician Jack Black. The famed series received a new musical adaptation in 2016 when Goosebumps: Phantom of the Auditorium was created as a stage musical with book and lyrics written by John Maclay and orchestrations and music written by Danny Abosch.

Ms. Walker, the energetic drama teacher, is played by Anne Bragg, a 2016-17 Walnut acting apprentice. Previous Walnut credits include Skippyjon Jones and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Jared Calhoun, a 2015-16 Walnut acting apprentice, returns to play the role of Brian. Goosebumps marks Jared’s eighth WST for Kids’ show including Ivy + Bean, StinkyKids, Junie B. Jones, Skippyjon Jones, Freckleface Strawberry, and two productions of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Joining Anne and Jared are four performers making their Walnut debut in R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS: Phantom of the Auditorium. Playing the intelligent teen and hopeful star, Brooke, is Leah Senseney who was last seen in Media Theatre’s production of The Wizard of Oz. Zeke, a jokester teen with a love for theatre, is played by Elias Rivera who recently performed in Candlelight Theatre’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone. Tina, the experienced drama student, is played by Chelsey Jean who was last cast in Gateway Playhouse’s production of Little Women. Lastly, friend and drama student, Emile, is played by Tristan Horan, who built a love for children’s theatre at Upper Darby Summer Stage.  

R.L. Stine’s GOOSEBUMPS: Phantom of the Auditorium is live on stage at the Walnut February 2 to 10 and is sponsored by the Mutual Fire Foundation. Media partner for this production is Courier-Post. WST for Kids’ season sponsor is Sharon and Scott Rankin. For tickets and information, call 215-574-3550 or 800-982-2787. Tickets are also available online 24/7 by visiting www.WalnutStreetTheatre.org or Ticketmaster.

Image: Photo courtesy of the Walnut Street Theatre. Actors from left to right are Jared Calhoun, Leah Senseney and Elias Rivera.