By Vera Morris

Rats are taking over Hamelin, eating everything in sight and frightening the citizens!  Nobody, including the greedy mayor, knows what to do.  Even Duchess Dingaling is at her wit’s end.  Rattytatty, the pest control officer, admits defeat.  Who should turn up but an odd young gentleman who calls himself the Pied Piper?  In return for getting rid of the pests, he sets a fee of one thousand guilders.  The town agrees.  True to his claim, the Piper disposes of the cheese nibblers.  However, the townsfolk claim they are too poor to pay.  In retaliation, the Pied Piper leads the children from the town and hides them within a magic mountain.  The townsfolk realize their error and search for the mysterious musician.  The slap-happy characters range from a silly Dancing Tutor, who creates a new dance called ’doing the Rat,’ to Old Widow Whiskers, the wise rat, who’s too slow to follow the Piper.  This show RATASTIC!