Betsy's Blog on Children's Theater | BaileyKidsMusicals.com - BaileyKidsMusicals.com

It's All So Exciting

11/3/2023

Such a happy day! I sold another complete Musical show package!
"The Tale of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse" is such a fun show. It can be done in either a short version (mini-musical 15 minutes) or a more filled out version (30 minutes). The mini-package includes a script, vocal/piano score, lesson plans, and accompaniment mp3s. It is fairly uncomplicated to mount, even in a classroom or club situation, because it only has 2 production numbers that everyone sings together. This version is best for younger actors (5-9 year olds).

"I Love the City Life" 2-Part is begun by the City Mouse who tries to convince her cousin the Country Mouse about how wonderful life in the city can be.

"A Country Mouse" begins when the Country Mouse decides that being back home in the country is best.

As is the case with a lot of performing situations, the girls usually outnumber the boys. This mini-musical is great for cases like this. Both lead characters are girls!

The expanded version "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse" has more songs, more characters, and more for them to do. Once I had a small club group of 10-12 year olds --- mostly girls. I reworked this show to showcase the special talents of my actresses. So, some new songs were added that quickly became favorites, as well as some incidental and chase music.

"What is It Like?" - for the Country Mouse and her family

"As the French Say" - for the City Mouse, her French Maid, and the Country Mouse (and City neighbors)

"You Can Learn a Lot" - Opener and Finale

Such a fun show. I am so glad it will be performed in the near future.

Elementary School Chorus Concerts

5/16/2023

What do I do for an Elementary School Chorus Concert?

How long should it take to teach all the songs?

Do I use a few Narrators, or many, or none at all?

Many Music Teachers run out of ideas for chorus concerts. Here are some themes that seem to be used a lot: Under the Sea, Outer Space, Down on the Farm, Wild West, Time Travel, The Great Outdoors, Movin' On, Mystery, Springtime, Christmas, Patriotic, and so forth.

As fun as it is to search for the perfect theme to build a program around and then search for songs to fit the program, sometimes it is nice to have the program already packaged for you.

Recently it dawned on me that using songs from my Children's Musicals catalogue could form the basis of some fun 4th-5th Grade Chorus Concerts. A few years ago, a Music teacher in Pennsylvania asked me to put together a Chorus Concert for their school. He liked to do programs that were more like shows with stories, characters, solos, costumes, scenery --- the works. All of the actors/singers would be pulled from the main chorus. So, sets and movement needed to work within the confines of their stage/riser space.

"Three Mini-Musicals in Concert" was what they used at that school. I even got to go see it performed. (I didn't mind the travel because my granddaughter was in the show.) The Mini-musicals are: The Ants and the Grasshopper, The Musicians of Bremen and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Some of the 4th-5th Grade Chorus at Alloway Elementary School in Pennsylvania

From Fables to Folktales showcases the famous storytellers who passed down the fables and folktales we still enjoy today.
These tales have been told and retold for generations. Many have important morals promoting Character Values that we would do well to live by today such as Honesty, Sincerity, Kindness, Bravery, Cooperation, Appreciation and Work.

Each narration "lead-in" gives a brief historical setting about the fable or folktale.

Tales of Far Away Places centers around how some children dream of going on a Quest or wonder what life was like for kids long ago in different cultures.
The script calls for Narrators and Soloists to tell about their desires to travel to distant times and places. The "lead-in" narrations also give historical settings to each of these songs and the fable or folktale the musicals were based on.
The far away places and distant times are ancient Greece, ancient Japan, ancient Persia, and the American Old West, as well as Paris, France in any time, Elizabethan England, and nowadays

Two Versions of the Same Story

2/21/2023

Sometimes I am surprised by the talent that comes out for one of my shows. When I direct, I often don't really know the students or their abilities until we are well into the rehearsal phase of the show. There have been occasions when I felt that I had to add a new song or new character to an already written script. And that has always been due to the amazing talents that appear.

The first version of "The Tale of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse" came about because of a Drama Club class I was teaching. These kids needed a short show that they could learn in just a few sessions. I quickly wrote a script and two songs for them in this 10-minute mini-musical. That was all we could manage at the time.

The second version of this story was a more expanded show aimed to be part of a Summer Camp. The younger kids did "The Ants and the Grasshopper" and the older kids did "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse." Because some very talented actors and singers signed up, I felt free to write more songs, add more characters, and even include more comedic situations.

In this version, the Country Mouse and her siblings get a new song. In Musical Theater, the first introduction to the main female character includes her ARIA. That song clues the audience into her longings and deepest desires. "What Is It Like" fulfills that requirement.

One of the most enjoyable songs from the expanded version is "As the French Say" which was written for the City Mouse and a new character, her French Maid. I know a French lady who helped me use the French sayings properly. We got to learn what "la joire de vivre" and "bien manger" mean. So fun!

It was even fulfilling to be able to add incidentals and travel music for transitions. It became such a delightful show!

For that Summer Camp, I also wrote an Opener/Bows number that could be the umbrella to tie the two mini-shows together. "You Can Learn a Lot" was fun to bring the two casts together singing and dancing their hearts out.

Here is a video created from bits and pieces of phone clips from audience members of our Cousins Camp done during COVID in 2020. We as a family decided to go ahead with our Family Reunion regardless of restrictions. Most of my grandchildren at the time were between the ages of 4-12. They humored Grandma by doing this show together.

Evidence of Wasted Effort

2/1/2023

A friend came by yesterday offering me some fabric she hoped I could use. The fabric turned out to be many, many partially assembled costume parts all in the same lime green cotton. She had really not examined the box beyond lifting the lid and noticing a lot of what she thought was green fabric. As we looked more closely at what was actually inside the box, we were astounded to see evidence of such a lot of WASTED EFFORT.

These partially constructed tops complete with sewn-in zippers but no sleeves or collars or connection to lower sections were in so many different sizes. Looking through these pieces was just bizarre. They were carefully pressed and some seams were even finished. I decided that trying to figure out uses for these random costume parts would be more trouble than it was worth. Besides, I had no immediate plans for a show needing costumes for 50 little green frogs!

Looking through that box got me thinking of other WASTED EFFORTS. Mostly what I have thought were my own wasted efforts. I have been taught that there really are no wasted efforts if you learn something in the process. Well, sure, lessons can always be learned, but at what expense?

Writing Children's Theater can sometimes feel like a lot of wasted effort. In the end, you can only do what you can do. As the writer, you can IMAGINE all sorts of wonderful things. As the director, REALITY sets in, and you have to deal with budget restraints, venue limitations, technical difficulties, crazy family schedules, and child actors who have little experience and basically no skills.

Little Lambs dancing and wagging their tails in "Never Cry Wolf"

"So, why do I do this?" I wonder.

Then I remembered an exchange that happened a few years ago during one of my Summer Theater Camps. My daughter's family was staying with us at the time and she and I overheard her 7-year-old son explain to the the neighbor boy about our play.

He was surprised that the little boy didn't know about Aesop or his fables, or what the word "contrary" meant. The kids were playing in the backyard and Ethan didn't know his mother and I were overhearing their conversation. Ethan told his friend about the contrary Boy Who Cried Wolf and how he lied so much that the people wouldn't believe him anymore. "You really shouldn't lie to people." He also explained that he got to be the Wolf and carry off his sister as the last little Sheep. He even had his sister Iris demonstrate her little Lamb dance. She sang as she danced, and Ethan came up and carried her off just as they were to perform it in the show.

Katelyn and I looked at each other. "That's why you keep doing this," she said.

I guess what I do really isn't wasted effort after all.

Crafting Songs for Musical Theater

10/27/2022

If you go to a class on Songwriting, you will undoubtedly come away with a formula for writing a good pop song. For example, the most common form is (Intro), Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, (opt. Verse), Chorus, (ending) or ABABCB. While this formula works for many popular songs, it is not always useful for Theater, especially for young Children's Musicals.

You will also undoubtedly hear about writing to the HOOK. In other words, the HOOK is the key element of the message of the song and so all other elements relate to or refer to the HOOK.

In writing for very young actors, sometimes all you can do is build on the HOOK. You do not have time to write verses and choruses, let alone a bridge. You have to write a singable, memorable, catchy tune using the HOOK in less than one minute!

"The Ants and the Grasshopper" was written for a very young group of Drama Club students at an Elementary School. We had one 2nd grade boy and seven 1st and 2nd grade girls. For this Drama Club, I had only planned on doing Theater Skills for the 8 weeks of class. These students would have none of that. They demanded to do a show!

So, I had to come up with a show for them. In less than eight weeks, our only option was to do an in-class mini-musical. What exactly do you do with one boy and seven girls? Well, fortunately the boy was larger than most of the girls and he could sing and dance. So, over the weekend, I wrote three songs and a script that could be learned very quickly.

These songs are all built around the main message (HOOK). I also needed some quote or bullet point to serve as the Character Value. I remembered a quote by John Maxwell "You can play now and pay later or pay now and play later. Either way you'll have to pay." That worked perfectly for the finale message song.

So, if you analyze songs from musicals for young children, you will likely discover that they have no verses, but probably have something that sounds like a chorus and possibly a contrasting big finish. Most are simple 2 section (call it AB form) songs.

Check out the songs from "The Ants and the Grasshopper." They are short and to the point!

You Had to Audition to Get Into This Family

4/12/2022

Whenever my siblings and I complained about rehearsing or getting ready to do a show with my mother, she just said, "Singing is what we do." And then she added, "Don't you know you had to audition to get into this family?"

I think that was what her mother said to her when she was little, too. (My grandparents were excellent singers and were carrying on that singing tradition from generations before them!) My mother was the fifth child in a family of seven singing siblings. They grew up singing together for fun and to entertain others. Many became professional musicians, educators and entertainers.

My mother started training her children to sing practically from birth. She put me in my first show when I was just two weeks old. Anyway, all six of us learned to sing together in harmony from our very early ages. Her line was that when we were in heaven, we made sure to stand in the "singing talent" line. And then we had to go through an audition process before we got assigned to come to earth into our family. "Singing is what you were born to do." So, we did.

When my children came along, I knew what I had to do. My kids grew up knowing that they also had to audition to get into our family. We sang a lot as a family while they still lived at home. They all learned to hold their own parts and play different instruments. We enjoyed singing together.

Now, it is harder to gather from so many different places in order to sing together, but whenever we can, we still love singing together.

Megan and Melanie singing

My daughter Kathryn shared an experience she had with her kids from the other day. They had had a long day of Church meetings and choir practice and visiting other wards. Then, after a quick dinner, Mom and the older kids needed to go practice again for Stake Conference Choir. Kathryn needed their help because she was the choir director.

Eleven-year-old Megan started to complain and drag her feet, but her voice was needed in the Soprano section with her two older sisters and just a few older women. Kathryn said, "Singing is what we do in this family. Don't you remember you had to audition to even get to be in this family?"

Confused, Megan said, "Wait. What?"

Kathryn shook her head and muttered as they got into the van, "Where have you been all these years?"

Megan and Melanie have lovely voices, and here's the proof. "As the French Say" song from the play "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse."

Time Forges Onward

4/2/2021

It really is a small world. The other day, I learned that my neighbor's daughter is engaged to a young man with an unusual name. That name rang a bell for me. As if being roused from a deep sleep, the memories of a different time, a different place, and a different cast of characters came flooding back. I remembered that young man from when he was about age 10. He was in one of my Children's Theater productions back when we lived in Maryland.

Fourteen years ago now, a group of like-minded parents and I got together and helped our children put on a show. So many families wanted to be involved! All totaled, there were 75 children between the ages of 2 1/2 to 15. Fortunately, nearly all the parents, and even some interested bystanders, chipped in to lend a hand.

Never Cry Wolf is probably my most popular show. And it is easy to see why. It has a very FLEXIBLE CAST that can be expanded or diminished as needed. It has parts that can accommodate very young children without lowering the expectations of the young teenagers.

All of the cast members are busy throughout the entire 60 minute production. They are shown doing the daily WORK of people in ancient Greece. The activities of the Farmers, Shepherds, Soldiers, Merchants, Artisans, Servants, Weavers, Politicians, Sheep, the Family and even the Muses all show this slice of daily life from so long ago. The songs and dances are very fun, too.

The children in these pictures are no longer little kids. Many have grown up, gone to college, started their careers, served missions, travelled the world, gotten married, and some even have their own children now. But I like to remember who they were then. Too bad we can't stop the March of Time!

Writing for a Male or a Female Protagonist?

3/24/2021

Writing Children's Theater (for ages 5-12) from classic fairy tales, folk tales or fables AND keeping recognizable characters and plot lines, can be challenging. Many of these traditional tales involve having male protagonists. In other words, the story revolves around a male main character who goes out on a QUEST or a hero's journey, or has bad things happen to him that he must overcome --- Sinbad, Hercules, Aladdin, Pinocchio, The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Some stories are generic enough that a female can be substituted in the protagonist role, but then the title has to change because it carries a male name. Unfortunately, with that change, the production loses the valuable advantage of NAME RECOGNITION.

When a female is the protagonist in Children's Theater and has famous name recognition --- Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel -- as a director, you have a hard time getting boys to join the cast. Young boys usually stay far away from any play that even hints of a love story.

So, what does a writer/director of Children's Theater do?

Well, first I look for stories that have a recognizable title with NO gender name in it --- The Country Mouse and the City Mouse, The Empty Pot, (A Successor to the Throne), The Musicians of Bremen, Stone Soup, The Tale of Chicken Licken, and The Ants and the Grasshopper.

These stories are the easiest to reimagine with a FLEXIBLE CAST. That means that the protagonist and other characters do not necessarily need to be a particular gender.

(These are good for the casts that have many more girls than boys, which seems to be the norm in Children's Theater.)

Since I ALWAYS want to attract boys as well as girls to my shows, I may use a story with a male name in the title, but make sure it has NO LOVE STORY and plenty of good roles for BOTH GENDERS. I have found that creating good female roles for a show that has a male protagonist is easier to sell to boy participants than the other way around --- Momotaro, The Adventures of Dick Whittington, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, (Never Cry Wolf), The Three Billy Goats Gruff

An exception, has been Parizade's Quest - a tale from the Arabian Nights. This show has a definite female protagonist in the title, but also has four other strong lead roles for girls, as well as many important secondary female roles. (In fact, Parizade is not the actual main female lead.) It also has five strong male lead roles, and many strong secondary roles for boys. It has NO ROMANTIC LOVE STORY but does have a REUNITING of a FAMILY LOVE STORY. (The boys were okay with that.)

I actually wrote this show for a group of kids I knew pretty well at a local elementary school. Of the 45 kids in the cast, we had about equal numbers of boys and girls --- VERY UNUSUAL FOR CHILDREN'S THEATER!

Fancy Valentine's Day Dinner and Dance

2/20/2020

For several years now, my daughter's family has been hosting a fancy Valentine's Dinner. It has been a time to set the table with elegant place settings, eat dinner in several courses, and practice "best table manners." Occasionally, they have invited guests to dine with them, but not always. There are already eight children in this family. This year's menu included French delicacies deftly made by mom Kathryn and oldest daughter Makayla. A delectable time was enjoyed by all.
And the desserts are usually the very best part of the evening!

But, perhaps the most fun activity this year was the dance party in the basement. After dinner, they all went down to the playroom where the toys had been pushed up against the walls or cleared away. They were instructed to form two lines. Kathryn had been planning this secretly for weeks. She wanted her family to learn a dance, but didn't know what to do because she knew she had far more girls than boys. Her sister Carolyn suggested teaching the Virginia Reel because everybody just dances with everybody.

So, as they were learning "forward and back," bow to your partner," "do si do," and "swing your partner," 5-year-old youngest son Thomas said, "I know this dance. We learned it in Music Class." From then on, Thomas led the way and they all had fun dancing the Virginia Reel. A perfect ending to their fancy Valentine's Day Dinner.

The Virginia Reel folk dance is easy to teach and learn. The Country Mice dance it in "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse" musical. What a fun activity for beginning dancers.

Summer Loafin'

9/1/2019

Grasshopper stummin' his ukulele

Labor Day Weekend. Traditionally, the last weekend of summer. School here is already in session, but I recall that in my youth, school started after Labor Day. Many people have their last vacation get-aways on Labor Day Weekend, and some people use this time to recover from their previous vacation get-aways. I myself am taking this time to look back on all of the activities of this summer. Backyard Theater Camp, vacation at a Beach House in North Carolina, travel with kids and grandkids, going out to see shows with friends, trying to get the garden in and growing, choir rehearsals, my daughter's family moving out into their own new house, writing a new children's picture book... The list goes on and on. No summer loafing' for me!

Cute little Ants

In the mini-musical "The Ants and the Grasshopper," the Grasshopper sings a song called "Summer Loafing'" where he actually entices one of the little ants to try the easy, relaxing way of life. However, the Queen Ant knows that PREPARATION is the key to survival for the ants and she convinces the little ant that she needs to finish their work of gathering food before winter sets in. Of course, the grasshopper mocks the ants and continues his loafing ways UNTIL winter comes in earnest. He then begs to be let into the Ant Hill where he can get out of the cold and find food and shelter. The little ants beg the Queen to let him in to play music for them so they can dance throughout the winter. He joins the ants inside the ant hill, but then after a LONG time of playing his "fingers to the bone" while the ants make merry, Spring finally comes and he can GET AWAY. He learns that "You can play now and pay later, or pay now and play later. But either way you'll have to pay." (quote from John Maxwell)

In some respects, I have had my share of summer loafin'. I spent some pretty relaxing days at the beach house. But, I can't tolerate doing nothing for very long. I guess "Summer Loafing'" is not for me. Looking forward to Autumn!

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