Dog Man: The Musical, at Playhouse, Arts Centre Melbourne - 65 minutes

Welcome to the fun, funny, fanciful, colourful and action-packed world of Dog Man.

This musical is the brainchild of Kevin Del Aguila (book and lyrics) and Brad Alexander (music), with orchestrations by Lloyd Kikoler.

The characters are those adapted from the series of books by Dav Pilkey.

Within the universe of Captain Underpants, Dog Man was the first comic book character created by George Beard and Harold Hutchins.

He is part dog and part man police officer.

George and Harold have been creating comics for years.

But, now that they are in fifth grade, the besties think it is time that they write a musical based upon their favourite character.

They figure how hard can that be?

Well, not exactly straight forward, but they need to start somewhere.

And so it is that the crime fighting pooch is giving voice, born – as he was – from an unfortunate accident.

The greatest adversary facing the city is a megalomaniacal cat named Petey, the world’s most evil feline.

He has cloned himself to extract revenge on the doggy do-gooder.

But he is not alone is upsetting the apple cart.

Flippy the cyborg fish is also a formidable nemesis. With his army of beastly buildings (that is infrastructure that comes to life), he too has nefarious intent.

Dog Man and Petey’s clone (who looks up to him as a father figure), Li’l Petey, join forces to ensure that good prevails.

Dog Man: The Musical is a genuinely children friendly show (recommended for ages six and above) that moves along at pace.

The one hour five-minute production features singing and dancing, and a combination of simple, but effective cardboard props together with some more sophisticated iterations.

As zany as the story is, it comes together beautifully, thanks to a talented cast and crew.

The sextet we see – Luke Leong-Tay, Liam J. Kirkpatrick, Harrison Riley, Nana Revalk, Jack Dawson and Mackenzie Garcia – harmonise particularly well.

They are also adept at delivering the sight gags and one liners that are inherent in the show.

Judging by the kids’ reactions around me (they laughed), the first appearance of Dog Man: The Musical on the Arts Centre Melbourne stage before a packed audience has been a triumphant one.

It is delightfully orchestrated silliness, with a good, humorous heart.

Get in quickly to see it because it is only on at Playhouse until 4^th October.

To buy tickets and to find out more, go to https://www.artscentremelbourne.com.au/whats-on/2025/kids-and-families/dogman

Next, the show moves to Seymour Centre in Sydney between 7th and 9th October, 2025.

To book, go to www.seymourcentre.com