Captain Louie, the family-friendly Stephen Schwartz musical that played earlier this year at the York Theater, is moving to a commercial run at the Little Shubert. The tuner, directed by Meridee Stein, will begin previews there on October 27 in preparation for an opening set for Halloween night, October 31.
Captain Louie centers on a young boy who feels lonely and without friends in his new neighborhood. Looking for something to cheer himself up on Halloween Night, Louie returns to his old neighborhood in an imaginative journey on the wings of his magical toy, his little red plane. Based on the children's book The Trip, by Ezra Jack Keats, Captain Louie has a libretto by Anthony Stein and music and lyrics by Schwartz.
In his Broadway.com Review of the mounting of Captain Louie at the York, William Stevenson wrote: "Even though the modest musical doesn't have the grand scale or lavish production values of Wicked, it boasts cheerfully catchy tunes and inventive staging… The plot is simple enough, but it provides a nice moral about friendship while encouraging children to use their imaginations."