He lived to be 70 years old and wrote over 160 stories in that span of time in the 19th century. He was the master of the fairy tale and now those tales come to life on stage at New York City's Theatre 22 in Oh, My Dear Andersen Feb. 15-March 4.

As adapted and directed by Moscow Art Theatre's Aleksey Burago, Dear Andersen presents the world of Hans Christian Andersen in which a fisherman can walk his pet fish on a leash, a duck can nestle an egg as big as herself, toys can fall in love and a shunned duckling can become a beautiful swan.

Performing in this production are Snezhana Chernova, Cordis Heard and Amanda Jones. Colm Clark provides original music and sound effects while Rachel Kramer and David Gochfeld outfit puppets. Costumes are handled by Uta Bekaia, Nadia Fadeeva and Nora Heart and the set is designed by Matthew Wright.

For tickets to Oh, My Dear Andersen at Theatre 22, 54 West 22 Street, call (212) 567-3356. For more information, visit the show's website at www.mydearandersen.org.

— by Ernio Hernandez