The musical's Pre-Broadway engagement first premiered in October 2010 at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, Connecticut. The musical itself was quite different from its source material, but honored it. Throughout the two month run, the show underwent lots of renovation. The cast featured young stars Justin Lawrence Hall and Ellis Gage playing James, Broadway veteran Steve Rosen as Marvo The Magician, Ruth Gotchall as Aunt Spiker and Denny Dillon as Aunt Sponge. The show also featured Jim Stanek as the Grasshopper, Chelsea Krombach as the Ladybug, Kate Wetherhead as the Spider, Destan Owens as the Earthworm, Nick Gaswirth as the Centipede, also with Nicholas Park, Minami Yusi, Marissa Palley, and Jessica Hershberg in the Ensemble. The dance troupe "Pilobolus" were a huge part of the production bringing an innovative theatrical technique of using their bodies to create most of the set, specifically using shadow technique to create a mojority of the special effects.