Barbara and Grace ended up staying at a Bed and Breakfast near the Heathrow Airport and David took the flight home to America. The protocols said they'd have to stay for two weeks, then test again before taking the new flight. So, they have been stuck in England.
My sister and her husband and daughter just spent the Christmas Holiday in the U.K. She sent me pictures of the various castles they toured in Scotland and Wales and texted me about the midnight mass they attended in an ancient cathedral on Christmas Eve. They enjoyed revisiting some people and places they had seen before in England. Then, because of COVID, they had to get tested before getting onto their flight back home. Her daughter tested positive, so, that changed their plans. Barbara and Grace ended up staying at a Bed and Breakfast near the Heathrow Airport and David took the flight home to America. The protocols said they'd have to stay for two weeks, then test again before taking the new flight. So, they have been stuck in England. One of the perks of being stuck in England is that no matter where you are some interesting place may be just outside your window. Their B&B overlooks a 900 year old Pub thought to be the fourth oldest pub in the entire country. It opened in 1106, when King Henry I was on the throne. It has some fascinating, yet grim history. The husband and wife owners of The Ostrich back in the 17th century committed 60 murders before slipping up and getting caught. (Think "Sweeny Todd" or "Arsenic and Old Lace.") Some people think the place is haunted. Outlaws through the centuries have used it as a hideout. Nowadays, it is a restaurant and hotel. You can get your fish and chips there and even spend the night. (Tempting, right?) This reminds me of a few years ago when I was doing the research to write "The Adventures of Dick Whittington." The setting was circa 1605. The vehicle was Old English Pantomime. The sets were half-timbered buildings. The costumes were Elizabethan. Even the songs were based on Nursery Rhymes and Sea Chanties from that time. All I can say is, I wish I had been stuck in England a few years back so I could have soaked up even more of that Old English atmosphere!
0 Comments
While watching an episode of "Father Brown" (a BBC mystery series) the other night, I realized that the story was set within the framework of Christmas Pantomime. Even though the plot was about a murder and the miscarriage of justice against a simple young man of the village, the setting was in the context of the community theater production of "Cinderella." The secondary plot lines revolved around the "regulars" being cast in this Christmas Pantomime. "Pantomime is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking countries, especially during the Christmas and New Year season. Modern pantomime includes songs, gags, slapstick comedy and dancing. It employs gender-crossing actors and combines topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or folk tale. Pantomime is a participatory form of theatre, in which the audience is expected to sing along with certain parts of the music and shout out phrases to the performers." (quoted from Wikipedia) As the episode progressed, more and more of the pantomime was revealed. All of the elements were there --- the Every-man, a Love Interest, the Do-good characters, the Dame, the Villain, a Comic Duo who provide slapstick comedy, and at least one Funny Animal. In this case, the very large Funny Animal was played by two men dressed in a cow costume, and other funny animals were Mice played by little village children. I was interested especially at how the audience shouted out to the actors, or booed and hissed at the villains or other things that they did not approve. Unfortunately, there were many things about that production that I would have wanted to "boo and hiss." The idea of Pantomime was to provide Family Friendly entertainment. Had I been in the audience, I am afraid that I would not have enjoyed the crude, lewd and rude "humor." I definitely would disagree that the treatment of the subject matter was Family Friendly. Where the concepts of how to mount a Pantomime are good, the way some productions are directed can definitely lack wholesome moral values. No amount of dressing up in gorgeous costumes and brilliantly painted scenery can mask that lack of moral decency. So glad that the elements of Old English Pantomime can be used as a framework for stories told with good character morals. KINDNESS is the value presented in the Bailey Kids Musical "The Adventures of Dick Whittington."
My idea of family friendly is obviously very different from modern English Pantomime. When I was in High School, the Drama and Music Departments presented "My Fair Lady." The music in that show is fantastic! I actually enjoyed bantering daily with my Biology teacher who loved that show and knew that I was in the cast. He couldn't resist quoting the songs during class. He wasn't much of a singer (but then, neither was Rex Harrison), so he felt perfectly at ease "singing" his version of "I'm an Ordinary Man" in class. (I digress, let me get back on track.) This show is great --- except for one thing: It really is a cast comprised of just a few LEAD characters. The Ensemble (those singer/dancer/actors in lesser roles) really only appear for a few numbers during that extremely LONG show. Most of the time, we played card games and ate snacks back stage. It was a test of endurance for us --- for staying engaged because we were SO BORED! All in all, "My Fair Lady" was not a the best choice for our High School. It would have been nice to be in a show that gave everybody more to do. This was a pivotal moment in my education. I vowed if I ever was in a position to choose a show for my school, I would be aware of what the cast at large would be doing for the duration. I vowed to choose vehicles that kept everyone engaged and busy throughout. Let's face it, people appreciate getting validation for their hard work. At the end of a production, I enjoy reading thank you notes and emails. A simple sincere note carries a lot of weight for me. The following are examples of thank you notes that let me know that my efforts at writing Musical Theater Shows for Children have accomplished one goal in particular. That goal was to disguise the fact of an obvious STAR, or a role that the entire show revolves around. I intended to create many featured roles and create an ensemble of supporting characters that was busy throughout the entire show. I needed the vehicles to showcase the emerging talents of many kids, sometimes 50+. How wonderful that this was apparent to many in the audiences. "I loved that each child had their moment to shine...there wasn't one obvious star. They were really singing, instead of singing along to prerecorded orchestra and vocal tracks. And it taught a great moral." "I enjoyed this show because so many different children got featured parts. It was so professional!" "We heard about the recent musical at our children's school. Our children had not been cast, so we did not see it. But we heard that it had a very small cast because the script did not have enough parts. We really appreciate how your shows are so right for kids this age. There are meaningful parts for so many kids and everyone is busy for the entire show. No one can tell if there is a main starring role because there are so many featured parts. Our family loves being part of such wonderful productions!" Come to find out, during my years of working in Children's Theater companies and teaching school, I found very few vehicles that fit the bill that also fit my non-existent budget. That's when I started writing shows. It is gratifying to know that my efforts have been appreciated. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The photos above are from the Summer Theater Camp production of The Adventures of Dick Whittington. These children played many characters including Village Children and the sneaky Mice and the marvelous Cat. "The Adventures of Dick Whittington" is a retelling in musical form of an Old English Pantomime. Just spent the morning relocating old m4a audio files of this show I wrote to be produced in 2016. As I look back, I realize that this musical was fun to write not just because it was based on tried and true material, but because I also knew the talents of the children who would likely audition to be part of the show. The oldest of these students had already been in shows I had directed for four years. And some of the younger ones were siblings of the older ones and couldn't wait to start their acting careers. Though, I did not know for certain that I would cast the show in any particular way, I knew that I had options. I knew that I could expect the boys who would be perfect to play the Captain, and Dick, and the twins who had such comic stage presence. I knew the vocal ranges of the two potential lead girl characters and that they could carry the heavy line load. I knew these were strong actors/singers who could play multiple roles well. But there were some definite risks and unknowns. For example, in Old English Pantomime, there are certain Stock Players that were well defined and expected. One was the "Dame." This character was usually played by a exceedingly fat man exaggerating a comic/villain female character with garish make-up and wearing outrageous wig. I had to hope I could convince one of these young girls to play this role. The beautiful, thin actress we cast agreed to wear a fat suit and play the part -- but it was awkward for her to get used to doing the things she needed to to get the laughs!
The "Balladeers" in this show had to be very strong actors singers and dancers and able to deliver comedy. They had to make quick changes to play multiple roles and good timing to hold the continuity of the show together. They also had to be confident enough to lead the audience in the sing-alongs! So glad we had six students with great presence to do these roles! And then there were the adorable little "Mice." In Old English Pantomime, the funny animals were essential! I never knew that when I asked the mice to show their own distinctive personalities, I would get such a response. These were definitely sneaky and unique and very funny characters! I think this has become my favorite of all the shows I've written. And it has been a delight to look back and remember those wonderful students!
Eight years ago we moved to Utah. For several weeks, we lived with relatives while searching for a house to buy. When we finally got to look at the house we ultimately bought, there were two big drawing features -- a large studio in the basement and a wide patio in the back yard. My daughter and I both decided at first glance that the patio would make a perfect stage. In fact, she produced the first show on our backyard "stage" even before we had finished renovations on the house. This summer 2017 marks the seventh consecutive year of producing children's musicals on our backyard patio stage. So, how do you turn a patio into a stage? First, it helps to have good bones. Our yard is pie shaped, meaning that the back yard is much wider than the front yard. Our cement patio runs almost the entire length of the house and it is several feet higher than the lawn area. This makes it a perfect viewing venue. Over the years, we have added several other features to the patio area: an outdoor kitchen with barbecue, smoker, pizza oven, and a sink as well as awnings to cover the wide open space across the patio. My husband rigged up light-weight poles to hang clips for holding the background drapes all along the length of the roof eaves. The covered area of the outdoor kitchen provides a protected "back stage" launching area. It even has electrical outlets and countertops handy for running the sound system. We use practically the entire house getting ready for these shows. Rehearsal spaces are in the family rooms on the main floor and basement, the music studio, the basketball court and patio stage. The dressing rooms are nearly all of the rooms on the main floor. Entrances to and from the house are through the kitchen dining area. We even use the stone steps leading down to the garden as fair game for blocking and choreography. After two weeks of rehearsals, we invite parents and interested others to join us for the performance. We set up as many chairs as we can muster, and invite the audience (mostly neighbors) to bring their own camp chairs and blankets to augment the seating. Seems to work well. We've have audiences of up to 200 people come to these shows and everybody says how delighted they are at the performances. With the addition of added shade canopies this year, we also had people say how comfortable they were, too. Doing these Summer Theater Camps for the neighborhood kids has become a tradition now. Families are already signing up for next year!
Each summer as we contemplate the logistics of holding a Theater Camp in our backyard, the #1 concern is providing enough SHADE. June weather can be erratic with rain, wind and cold to sun, scorching heat and bone dry conditions! This year, we came up with what we thought was a brilliant solution -- why not set up a parachute shade canopy over our basketball court? That way, we would have another shaded area to practice blocking and choreography and a nice shaded space for audience seating. Well, the idea was brilliant in theory, but did not remain so through execution! Just how do you suspend a parachute over a large play space? The research we found suggested that it was helpful to have large trees in a forest to hang the parachute from. Oh -- or a crane. Since, we had neither, my engineer husband came up with a different solution. Why not build a large hoop out of electrical conduit with supports of rope to create a light-weight platform to gently set the the parachute on? Then attach the parachute with zip-ties at the edges so that it would stay aloft. So we got to work. I cut apart the gathered darts in the parachute and sewed channels for the tubing. My husband bought 72 feet of tent support tubes connected with bungee cording. We threaded the tubing through the channels and connected all the pieces to support the circular shape of the parachute. After my son and husband attached the electrical conduit hoop, or as my neighbor dubbed it "The World's Largest Dream Catcher," to the basketball standard, the apex of the covered patio roof and the neighbor's trees, we slid the parachute up on top. It took extra help from the neighbor boys to get it done, but we got it up there! But it could not stay there for long. The first few days of camp had ferocious winds that nearly blew the parachute to Timbuktu! So, we quickly had to cut it away from the hoop before the metal was wrenched out of shape. And unfortunately, we lost having the nice shade for a couple of days. When the forecast looked like the winds would be gone, we put the parachute up again. This time it took all of our dinner guests to help us. (Seems we always put our guests to work!)
Anyway, after having glorious shade for a couple of days, the wind suddenly came up again. We raced to get the parachute down just in time! So, once again we were without shade. But I was determined to at least have shade for the audience during the performance. Early Saturday morning, we arranged for the strapping lads from across the street to come help us yet again to raise the parachute canopy as well as set up four other canopies plus all of the chairs we could rustle. (What will we do without those boys when they grow up and leave the neighborhood?) I think our audience really appreciated the shade on that very hot day! It was a Herculean effort to engineer, produce, attach, and suspend -- and take down and put up two more times--- but in the end, I think our World's Largest Dream Catcher was a brilliant success! Does anyone have a bunch of very large feathers we can borrow for our picture to send into the Guinness Book of World Records? Summer Theater Camp 2017 presenting "The Adventures of Dick Whittington" in my backyard this year was rather exhausting. It could have been because of the extremes in the weather -- wind, rain, heat, cold -- or possibly needing to quickly rearrange directing assignments when we lost our music lady, or maybe I am getting too old for this, but most likely it was because I did not limit the size of my cast like I had planned to. The show I had chosen was written last year (2016) for a cast of young actors ranging in ages from 9-12. I knew I had parts that could work for younger children, so I stated that my age limits would be for 6-12 year olds. As the enrollments started coming in, I learned that the younger siblings of previous participants were so disappointed. They told their mothers that they had been "waiting their whole lives for this!" In fact, some mothers told me that they would not be able to send their older child if the younger sibling couldn't come, too. What was I to do? In order to get enough older kids to fill the lead roles, I needed to open the enrollment to the five year old siblings as well. My next thought was to limit the size of the cast. I happen to know that 30 children fill up my back patio stage to capacity. So, I thought I would cap enrollment at 30 participants. But, in order to get the older kids I needed, I ended up with 43 kids in the show. We practiced together for 3 hours a day for 10 days -- that's a mere 30 hours to teach, learn and polish for a 45 minute show. The lead characters did a fine job with their lines, choreography, songs, and many costume changes. As expected, the littlest kids put their cute factor to use and stole the show. The 19 boys in our play probably would have preferred if we had run a sports camp, but in the end, they came through and even learned their choreography. We had a group of 7 seven-year-old girls that really had to rise to the occasion. They had three big dance numbers plus some other scenes where they played different characters. In all, they had five costume changes. Sometimes they only changed a hat or scarf, but they also had to work with specific props. The Narrators had the busiest schedule of all. They provided the continuity during the show, sang most of the songs, danced, used props, and ended up being the stage crew changing the scenery and bringing on the set pieces. I was quite pleased with my little Thespians. Fortunately, the show came together and the performance was well enjoyed by the audience. They even sang along when encouraged! Occasionally I am asked which of my Musicals is my favorite. Would it be the one I am currently working on, or the first one, or one that is associated with a special memory... Well, this is a tough one. My favorite is probably not the first one I wrote. "Stone Soup" has evolved so much over the years and has had a lot of input from multiple actor's and director's interpretations. I like "Stone Soup," and have enjoyed the various iterations of its development. It was the first show that featured my two youngest children when they were very young -- 5 and 6 years old. There will always be a fondness in my heart for "Stone Soup." Over the years I have been fortunate to direct everyone of my sixteen Children's Musicals. In fact, none of them were actually written in a vacuum. All of them had a reason to be written and performed. Even the four classroom mini-musicals. They started out as a project for a company that provides reading materials to classrooms in Asia that teach English as a foreign language. They chose famous English language stories as a basis for teaching culture and heritage, as well as entertainment through reading. This company wanted songs to go along with their simplified reader's theater scripts. I was given permission to use the songs for my own purposes, as well. The five stories I wrote songs for were "Chicken Licken," "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse," "Dick Whittington and His Cat," "The Musicians of Bremen," and "Three Billy Goats Gruff." The great thing about owning the rights to your own work is that you are not bound by any restrictions. Nearly every time I have personally directed one of these mini plays, I have had reason to modify the script and add new songs. If I had a particularly talented cast, I could add more colorful characters and give them more interesting songs to sing. That's how "The Tale of Chicken Licken" and "The Adventures of Dick Whittington" became full-length musicals. I will always love "Whittington." I feel like I wrote some of my best songs for some of my best characters in that one. I always knew that "Dick Whittington" had potential to become a feature length show because of its beginning as an Old English Pantomime. But I was surprised by "The Tale of Chicken Licken." I will have to say, that of all the shows I have done with and for 2nd graders, this has been received the best. The school kids loved it! I guess it was comic enough and very easy to understand. (I really think they loved the costumes the most.) Well, I have currently been working again on one of the first shows I ever wrote. It started as a Summer Camp production for 8 young children. The first iteration of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" was written for 5-7 year-olds. It had to be very simple. I was so surprised by reactions of that first audience. When the little sheep came on and danced their little dance and shook their little tails, the people were practically "rolling in the aisles" delighted because of the "cute" factor. But I felt sorry for the contrary boy. I felt that he was just misunderstood and should have had a song that told his side of the story. So a few years later, I revisited this show and expanded it to full length and gave the contrary boy his own song, "A View from the Highest Mountain." Of all the songs I have written for Children's Musicals, I think I am most pleased with this one. Who out there has never felt misunderstood or has yearned for a higher perspective? (Writing a pure "stand alone" song within the context of a musical is very difficult.) "Never Cry Wolf" has so many great memories associated with it. It has been my most performed Musical, with many theater groups using it for a main stage production. It works well for a very large cast with a wide age span, but equally as well for a smaller more homogenous aged group. I have particularly fond memories of when our church group produced it as a two week Summer Camp in 2007. We had a cast of 75 children ranging in age for 2 1/2 to 15. (We even had about an equal ratio of boys to girls -- very unusual in children's theater!) The parents came out in force to help out on everything from managing the kids to providing cultural enrichment activities such as weaving, spinning wool, eating Greek foods, and building mosaics. Artists appeared out of nowhere to paint the scenery. Women set up shop during rehearsals with their sewing machines to create the costumes. So many women who had been dancers in their early life jumped right in and created and taught the choreography to the kids. The dads even volunteered to build a stage. In the end, the stage would have been too dangerous for our large cast of "little's" to dance on, so we used it to raise the audience providing "stadium" seating and the kids performed on the floor of the gym. We had such a great time during that production. I still hear from families who remember that show and thank me for providing such a great opportunity for their children. So, if pressed, I would probably have to say that "Never Cry Wolf" is my all-time favorite of my shows. Don't get me wrong, I love each of these stories as if they were my own children. You simply don't pick favorites when you had to work so hard to bring them to life. But "Never Cry Wolf" holds the most great memories for me, probably because I have lived with it the longest. Announcing the availability of a new Children's Musical from Bailey Kids Musicals. "The Adventures of Dick Whittington" is a retelling of the Old English Pantomime written to showcase the talents of 3rd-6th+ Graders. This show has been successfully produced and well received by three enthusiastic audiences. Accolades came unsolicited from many exuberant members of the audience: "This production was amazing! I have never seen a show at the Elementary School level done so well! I just retired from teaching recently and have done my share of concerts and musicals, but we were never able to pull off a show so well. The kids were so well prepared and their timing was fabulous! It was great! Just great!" "I remember doing musicals 'way back when I was in Elementary school, but they were never anything like this! The show was so fun! I really liked it!" "I like to sit in the back and watch the reactions in the audience. From what I could see, everyone was leaning forward in their seats ready to burst out singing the songs when given the signal. They seemed to really enjoy the show, especially when they got to sing-a-long!" "The Adventures of Dick Whittington" is a tale of the power of Kindness. The orphan boy Dick realizes that whenever there had been bumps along his road of life, some kind person stepped in to help. He learned that doing good deeds and showing kindness is the way to find true happiness. At a pivotal point in the play, Dick sings "Let Kindness Begin with Me." The Director's Scripts, Piano/Vocal Scores and Production Kits for this show are available for Digital Download at SMP Press. The individual mp3 recordings of the Show Tracks are also available at SMP Press. The Production Kit contains the following items: reproducible booklet Actor's Script, Lyrics Pages, and a Coloring Page Invitation to the show. It also includes a Performance License.
So, getting all of the props and costumes and set pieces and extraneous stuff made, assembled, painted, sewed or otherwise collected and set up at the venue usually takes me the entire course of the run. And I do most of it by myself. But getting all of that stuff broken down and packed away after the last show usually happens very quickly thanks to a lot of useful helpers. This time, though, our last show of "The Adventures of Dick Whittington" was during the middle of the school day and not that many helpers were available. In other words, the few backstage helpers just had time to gather and box up the costumes. That left me alone to pack up my van to take things home at my leisure. It took me about a week to finally retrieve and transport all of the stuff back to my house. (Washing costumes, sorting, organizing and putting everything away may take another month!) My husband let me use his truck to haul away the last of the oversized items. I always tried to go over to the school during lunch times when I knew the door nearest the stage would be unlocked and the attendant teacher would be willing to hold it open for me as I hefted boxes outside. The last day, just as I was wondering how I would move the biggest props and set pieces, a bunch of 6th grade boys suddenly appeared.
"Can we help?" "Absolutely! You couldn't have come at a better time!" They were happy and energetic helpers. They made short work out of loading the bulky props into the truck and moving the large flat sets down to the storage tunnel. But, the payback for me was how excited they were to tell me how much they enjoyed the show. When they looked at the set pieces, they were quick to tell me that they remembered the scenes that they were used in. "I know what this is!" they would say. Then they would proceed to sing the song they recalled from that scene. "This is....There is too, too much to do! There is too, too much to do..." or "this is... Over the briny sea, boys! Over the briny sea!" They even tried to do the sailor's little jig! These boys had not been in the show, they had just come to watch it several days earlier when we performed for the student body. I frankly was surprised to find that kids seated 'way in the back of the gym were engaged enough to follow the action of the show, let alone to remember the songs! That really gave me a thrill. They not only remembered the words, but got pretty close to recalling the tunes, too! Kind of renews your faith in humanity, doesn't it? |
AuthorMy name is Betsy Bailey. I have sung, written and taught music all of my life. I enjoy writing and directing Children's Theater shows. This blog will be directed to topics on creating the magic of Children's Theater. I would love to hear your comments! Archives
May 2024
|