“Blippi: Join the Band Tour" at the Adler Theatre -- May 11.
Sunday, May 11, 2 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
On May11, children of all ages are invited to explore what makes music – including sounds, rhythms, and instruments – in the touring sensation Blippi: Join the Band, allowing kids to shake their wiggles out and OJ Twist their way through a brand-new stage adventure featuring Blippi, Meekah, their singing and dancing buddies, and live musicians.
Created by Stevin W. John, Blippi is a children's entertainer and educator on YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Max, Peacock, and Amazon Prime Video. The Blippi character that John portrays has a childlike, energetic, and curious persona, and is always dressed in a blue and orange beanie cap, blue shirt, orange suspenders, and an orange bow tie. As the character's originator has stated, the idea for Blippi came to him after witnessing his then two-year-old nephew viewing low-quality videos on YouTube. The first Blippi video was published in January of 2014, with John starring as Blippi and doing all of the filming, editing, and graphics himself on the initial videos. Taking inspiration from children's educators and entertainers such as Mister Rogers, John wished to portray Blippi as an informative figure, but also as thinking and acting iin ways a child would. The videos consequently garnered a large following with more than a billion views on YouTube, and the production staff was expanded to produce videos in Spanish, establish Blippi Toys, and begin offering DVDs and digital downloads.
As stated on the Internet Movie Database, "Blippi is an energetic character that jumps off the screen with his goofy mannerisms but friendly demeanor. Children from the ages of two to seven years old have quickly taken a liking to Blippi's fun personality and innovative teaching lessons." Until May of 2021, the Blippi character was only portrayed by John. Yet in May of that year, Clayton Grimm, who played Blippi in live performances, performed as Blippi for the first time on TV and hosted as an alternative Blippi alongside John. That October brought with it a new character named Meekah (played by Kaitlin Becker and Cashae Monya), with the spin-off series Blippi's Treehouse beginning to air in December, featuring additional debuting characters Scratch and Patch, both of whom are puppets.
The touring production Blippi: Join the Band will land in Davenport on May 11, admission to the 2 p.m. theatrical starts at $28, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting DavenportLive.com/the-adler-theatre.
