The story of the sweet bull who'd rather smell the flowers than fight will soon be performed by the MainStreet Theatre company at Lewis Family Playhouse in Rancho Cucamonga.

The play and lyrics by Karen Zacarias for the stage version of "Ferdinand the Bull" were adapted from the 1936 story by Munroe Leaf, with music composed and directed by Deborah Wicks La Puma.

This stage version includes a new father and son tug-of-war over right and wrong, an updated backdrop that has a fluorescent light circle the bullpen and a pig with "American Idol" type aspirations.

The original message is similar but with a contemporary take, La Puma said. "The theme is being true to who you are. Ferdinand is sort of the Gandhi of bulls. Even his mother is concerned because he doesn't want to play and butts heads with other bulls."

In Leaf's story, Ferdinand is taken to a bullring to fight after he is seen jumping and snorting in response to a bee sting. But, rather than fight, he just sniffs and smells the flowers adorning the hair of the ladies in the crowd.

"Karen and I expanded on the original story and introduced new characters," La Puma said. The personalities of Duque Dodó and his son Duquito Danilo were added to the cast. Duquito is a would-be matador who would rather dance than fight.

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David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise

From left, Heather Corwin, Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper, Jesse Carrion and Armando Ortega star in MainSreet Theatre Company's production of "Ferdinand the Bull" playing at the Lewis Family Playhouse in the Victoria Gardens Cultural Center.

Ferdinand's pig friend, Cochina, dreams of "American Idol" fame and provides a lot of puns the adults will enjoy, La Puma said. And, the new characters aren't the only changes to the original story.

"The set and costumes definitely don't say this is an old-fashioned children's book," La Puma said.

"We tried to think of contemporary qualities ... asking who are these characters now?" said Robert Castro, director. "We are using the poetry of the theater, the element of contemporary American culture ... and we took all these impulses from pop culture and fused it with our own version of Spain."

Look for a landscape of giant flowers as well as white-washed wood and other natural elements, including twigs, leaves, shells and more. The characters' dress will not include elaborate animal costumes, but will show a great deal of variety.

"There's not a lot of interest in dressing us up like animals," said Nicholas Mongiardo-Cooper, who plays the part of Ferdinand. "It's more about making it as relatable as possible. There are certainly elements of the animal -- I'll have horns and chaps around my jeans. But, for the most part, they make me look like a rustic, Spanish gardener. Which is really what Ferdinand is.

"It's lovely, really. And helpful to create that bridge."

Reach Jennifer Dean at 951-368-9336, jdean@PE.com or http://blogs.pe.com/moms