Pearls so rare!
Pearls so rare!
A family has been reunited,
That's cause for joy.
We are so excited!
We'd be delighted
If you decided to stay___
On this happy day!
On this happy day!

These are the words to the chorus of the Finale song of my latest Children's Musical "Parizade's Quest, a Tale from the Arabian Nights."  The special message of this story is about the importance of FAMILY.  As always, writing the show is a mind game, but putting it into production is an adventure!

As a writer, you think and think and plan and plan and try to envision all the parts and pieces of the finished production.  You design everything from the sets, to the dances, to the costumes, to how the characters talk and move. But then reality sets in.  The biggest culprits are limitations of budget and time and of course the actual abilities of your very young actors.  How wonderful to have some validation in getting a lot "right" about what you can actually manage to accomplish.  But it is sobering to realize what simply will not fly.
So, you pare down, regroup, re-imagine, and go on!

The happy thing is that the kids seem to like the songs, the story, and the idea of the costumes that they haven't actually seen yet.  Now to get them to memorize their lines, learn their choreography, master the singing of the songs, and accomplish some real acting to tell the story.  The first few weeks are so rough.  Nobody really has a handle on what to expect.  They don't know each other.  They don't know their characters.  They have so much work to do. And as the creator and director of a brand new theatrical piece, I just don't have enough words or time to explain what is inside my head.  
          
The good thing is that they have no pre-conceived notions about the story or their characters.  
          
The bad things is that they have no pre-conceived notions about the story or any reference points for understanding the characters, setting or interpretation of the story.  
          
How come they can't just do what I see them do during my dreams at night?  

These are kids, after all.  Ten, eleven and twelve year olds.  There are just a handful who have had any experience doing a play or dancing or singing in shows.  Fortunately, those kids can be the lead characters and demonstrate to the others how to conduct themselves.  Now if I could just split myself into three or four extra people, we would have time enough to work with all the children on a more individual level.  Don't have that kind of luxury, though.  We will just go on the best we can.  Perhaps, I will think of creative ways to "steal" extra time in some other ways.

After all, what is the first law of the theater?  The Show Must Go On!

                   

         My mother was a very creative person.  She could sing and dance and play the piano.  She also was good at making things.  She could cook and sew and was quite artistic.  She always had wonderful ideas for her little children when they couldn't think of anything fun to do on rainy days.  I remember the little felt puppets she had made to illustrate the story of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff."  She taught us, my brothers and I, how to do a puppet show to act out the story.  My brothers always fought over who got to play the ugly, mean troll.  It was fun.
          As I was pondering how to write the script for my Mini-Musical of "The Tale of The Three Billy Goats Gruff," this memory flooded back to my mind.  I simply had to design the mini-musical around acting out a puppet show to this story.  I also remembered how she used to say "the grass is always greener on the other side" whenever we wanted things that we just couldn't get right then.  Seemed like the perfect moral for this story.  So, I started thinking of all the kinds of things we want but simply cannot have or things that are puzzling that we wonder about.  With these thoughts in mind, the opener, "Why Is Grass Always Greener on the Other Side?" was born.
          I also wanted to include musical themes borrowed from Norway's greatest composer, Edvard Grieg, to flavor this musical re-telling of the famous Norwegian folktale.  Music teachers may want to point out these little nods to Edvard Grieg's music.  I based the melody and accompaniment rhythms in "Why Is Grass Always Greener on the Other Side" on the "Norwegian Dance #2."  I borrowed the sneaky minor themes and chord progression of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the Peer Gynt Suite #1 for "The Troll Song."  And I used the haunting melody from the opening of "In a Morning Mood," also from the Peer Gynt Suite #1, as a motive in "The Billy Goat's Song."

          Elementary classroom teachers already use this story to teach many things, such as comparisons (Little, Medium, and Big), story elements, describing characters, retelling folktales with a moral, building vocabulary, idioms, and so forth.  This min-musical expands the range of experiences through use of music, art, poetry, and drama, with a little about the history and culture of Norway, and possibly, through extension into science, studying about why the grass really does look greener from a distance.  Now, perhaps, Classroom teachers, as well as Music and Drama teachers may use "The Tale of The Three Billy Goats Gruff" a Mini-Musical as a fun part of their curriculum.  


Coming in September 2014.

          When you write a new song for a Children's Theater Show, you really have no idea how it will be received by the children.  The little song I just finished for the Ducks in my new show "The Tale of Chicken Licken" is all about training for running a race.  The idea is very simple.  In the play, we meet the Duck family as they are trying to get down to the lake to get the best worms before the Goose family.  So what sounds more like running a foot race than a pianist practicing his scales all over the piano at lightning speed?  This song starts off with the Ducks in a huddle, tail feathers all a-wiggling.  Then they BREAK and start the chant:

          5K, 10K or training for the Big Relay. 
          Biath-a-lon, Triath-a-lon, or what the heck, a Marathon! 
          1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - Go_______Ducks!

After a bit of stretching, they sing:

          Off to the Races, we're off to the Races!
          We'll go through our paces.  Our Race is today!
          Off to the Races, we're off to the Races!
          We'll go through our paces.  Our Race is today!

          That is really all they sing, just repeated a few times.  Perhaps that is why the children seem to like it so much.  I had no idea that this little song that came about through a burst of inspiration in a time of desperation could possibly be a hit.  I just had to hurriedly finish it before the camp started a couple of days later.

          I am happy to report that the little Ducks, mostly 5 and 6 year old boys, love the song and more importantly, they love the idea of getting to run around the stage to the music.  I had planned on just having the Ducks sing the song by themselves, but now that all the children have heard it, they can't help singing along.  So, why not?  Everyone on stage will sing it and even join in the exercise routine in the middle of the number.  It is an awesome feeling to have created a fun song that the children tell me keeps going round and round in their heads.  Good!  Then I'm not alone!

         In the story of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," the villain is the Troll.  My dilemma: Obviously, the voice talent for the Troll should be masculine in a low register.  But when young children attempt to sing along with an adult male voice in a low register, they get confused about pitch.  So, when I make the recording, do I follow my "Teacher instinct" and have a treble voice do the recording or do I follow my "Director's instinct" and get a deep bass to sing the Villain's part?
          As I was planning the songs I was hired to write for the story of "The Tree Billy Goats Gruff," I pondered my approach.  I decided that I wanted to set the music to match the culture of the tale.  Troll stories seem most comfortable in the setting of Norwegian folklore.  The most famous composer I know from Norway is Edvard Grieg.  I have visited his home in Bergen, Norway, and have toured the mountains and villages and sailed into the incredible fjords of Norway.  His music perfectly suits the spectacular scenery and wealth of folklore of Norway.  It was a simple decision to borrow themes from Grieg's music to inspire the little songs I was to write for this story.  I decided to borrow the sneaky rhythmic motives from "In the Hall of the Mountain King" to inspire the Troll's song.  And I decided to quote a section from the etherial opening theme of "In a Morning Mood" to create the happy freedom song for the Billy Goats.  Both of these orchestral pieces are from Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite."  I also tried to keep true to the orchestration flavors as much as possible.  (This target date for release of this set of Classroom Skits and Tales will be later this summer.)
           But the dilemma still remains.  Because these songs are to be sung in a performance setting by young children, do I feature a gruff bass voice to sing the villain's part or not?  If this story was intended just for the public's listening pleasure, there would be no dilemma at all.  The Villain's Voice would definitely be sung by a bass doubled by the bassoon.  But because the target performing group will be a classroom of young children, I had better stick to my "Teacher instinct" and have the Villain voiced by a soprano.  Seems silly and against better judgement, but I would rather have the children model a voice in their proper range than cause them confusion of pitch!  (Sigh!)
          

          No Musical set in Ancient Greece could be complete without some authentic Greek instruments -- authentic looking at least.  In my enthusiasm to help the cast immerse themselves into the ancient Grecian world, I have spent the last month creating a Cheyl's Lyre, an Aulos, some Pipes of Pan, a Pandouris and Tympanum.  These have been fascinating to learn about and wondering how they would actually sound.  From what I can imagine, they would not sound musical to our modern ears.  However, I have great respect for the idea of using these unusual instruments as unique features for my upcoming production of "Never Cry Wolf."  In Scene 5, the artisan character Altair the Magnificent, brings his Muses and Musicians to help him get in the mood for painting a set of Commemoration Amphora (the Greek vases famous for capturing scenes of Greek life from the ancient times.)  The production number "Set It for Posterity" allows the Muses adjust the poses of the Politicians to help them look heroic for their portraits on the vases.  The Musicians, of course, play their authentic replica instruments during this wild and wonderful romp complete with demonstrations of1960's dance crazes and a rock 'n roll guitar solo.  Yes, the instruments are key to this number!   

            The Pan Pipes and the Aulos are blowing instruments.  The Pan Pipes were tubes of varying lengths blown somewhat like we would blow a harmonica today.  In fact, they are considered the first mouth-organ.  The Aulos is unusual because it is a double reed instrument with two sounding tubes.  One of the tubes provided the melody and the other the drone for the harmony (probably an open 4th or 5th).  It was a precursor to the bagpipes.  From studying the drawings of these instruments from pottery and museum pieces, I decided that I could make stage replicas just using bamboo.  I had my son cut up a bamboo placemat and a couple of bamboo tiki torch holders I scavenged from a thrift store.  After tying them together with twine and rubber bands, they make amazingly authentic-looking, though non-sounding, prop instruments.
          The Tympanun are simply variations of hand drums.  I decided that Quaker Oats containers were the perfect size and shape.  I painted them and added "skins" out of fake leather held on with glue and rubber bands.  Seems to work out well.  Sturdy enough for four performances, anyway.
          

         Being a musician, I wanted this Musical to incorporate the musical flavor of Ancient Greece as much as possible.  It was fun researching before writing the music and as well the script, and it has been fun now creating the musical props.  I am glad they will not sound, though.  We don't want them interfering with the soundtrack now, do we!

          When I was 9 years old, I was invited to a birthday party.  The activity at the party was to go see a new Disney movie that had just come out.  "Mary Poppins" was such a wonderful film and the music was infectious.  The whole audience literally went out of the theater singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "Just a Spoonful of Sugar" and "Chim Chim Cheree" and "Jolly Holiday" and "Feed the Birds."  I went home and told my mother all about the music, oh yes, and about the show, too.  I even sang the songs to her.  My aunts were visiting us at that time and just happened to have their reel to reel tape recorder set up.  My mother hopped to the piano and accompanied me singing all the songs I remembered from the movie.  We have listened to that recording since then and marvel that the songs from "Mary Poppins" would strike a young child so powerfully that she could remember the words and music so perfectly just from seeing the movie once.  Even more remarkable was my mother's ability to accompany the songs without hearing them in person at all.
          The new movie "Saving Mr. Banks" tells the story of Walt Disney's personal quest to get the rights from author P.L. Travers to make "Mary Poppins."  The story was very moving, but I was especially interested in how the songs came about.  Richard and Robert Sherman had quite a difficult time pleasing Mrs. Travers.  She did not approve of "made-up" words and rhymes.  And that was their signature schtick!  Eventually, though, things worked out.  Mrs. Travers softened to the ideas presented to her, especially after she heard the finale song "Let's Go Fly a Kite."  Structurally, that song is simple and joyous, yet it reaches down to much deeper human emotions, those of love and healing.  Little wonder everyone in the theater that day went out singing it.
           The Sherman Brothers were one of the most prolific songwriting teams of all time.  They wrote songs for many, many Disney movies throughout the 1960's and 1970's and wrote for more movies and stage plays after that.  My generation, Disney fans of course, was raised on these songs.  None of them were too musically complex or sophisticated, yet they resonated with truth and joy and humor.  The most important barometer of the success of a musical show in those days was whether the audience would leave the theater singing the songs.  In that respect, the Sherman Brothers were highly successful.
          As a songwriter of Children's Theater material, I hope to fulfill that same goal.  My aim is to create songs that make the children smile and go out of the theater singing!  The songs need not be sophisticated or complex or even great art.  They do need, however, to resonate with joy and love and fun.  It helps, too, if they are CATCHY and SHORT!  Believe me, there is nothing quite so fulfilling as to hear the audience go out of the theater humming or whistling your happy tunes!
          

         Marvin Hamlisch, famed composer and conductor, told of the importance of happy collaborations in a documentary of his life that I watched on American Masters the other day. This was an exceptionally gifted musician who could seemingly do it all.  He could make up and perform songs on the spot.  As a pianist/performer he could change his piano playing styles instantly from pop to Broadway to Bach to Beethoven.  He could write beautiful lyrical ballads as well as complex, sophisticated film scores.  He heard music all around him, in everything and underscoring the workings of the day.  And yet, he understood that his best work could only come about through happy collaborations with other gifted artists.  He knew that the sum of each of their contributions made a much greater product when added together.
          He regretted that his early success with "A Chorus Line" when he was just 29 years old was not repeated over and over again.  His collaborators on that project died soon afterwards and were not around to collaborate on any future projects.  Hamlisch never found quite the same team to work with ever again.  Still, he went on to garner three Oscars, four Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Tony Award as well as a Pulitzer Prize.  He was one of just eleven other artists to earn awards in all four categories (EGOT).
         His great love was Broadway music.  In the early 1970's, Broadway was dying.  With the success of "A Chorus Line," Hamlisch was part of the resurgence of the Broadway Musical.  That show led the way.  The public wanted to see more shows with quality music and appealing stories.  Broadway shows became popular again and the area was cleaned up.  In fact many theaters even started catering to families with children.  Producers learned that they had better "grow their audience" by making shows accessible to the future generations.  Marvin Hamlisch spent his later years devoting himself to making sure that the great music of the Broadway stage was not forgotten.  As the Pops conductor of eight different concert orchestras around the country, he promoted the works of greats such as Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe, Frank Loesser and others.  He made great contributions to our collective memory of our American Songbook comprised of the best of the great Broadway and Pop composers, old and new.
          I went to see some Broadway shows in the early 1970's and remember how run-down and seedy the show district was then.  The shows we saw were nothing great either.  They were not the calibre I had expected to see from all the stories I had heard from people who had been to see Broadway shows in the glory days.  What a difference when I went back to see some Broadway shows in the late 1990's and early 2000's.  The marquee's were bright with titles of new shows and revivals of wonderful old shows.  Many of these shows were family friendly, as well.  How refreshing to see that the producers were taking thought for the rising generation.  I saw busloads of school children being dropped off to see matinee performances of "The Lion King" and "Wicked."  In the early 1970's, I would never have allowed my children anywhere near 42nd Street.  Thank you, Marvin Hamlisch for helping the Broadway Musical make a comeback.
          So many creative people are needed to make a successful Musical Theater Show, no matter the level, all the way from Broadway down to local Children's Theater.  Writers, composers, producers, directors, actors, singers, dancers, choreographers, scenic designers, builders, costumers, tech crews, musicians, marketing teams, publishers, even those who run the theater -- it takes so many people to make the magic happen!  I have also been grateful to have wonderful collaborators to help make my visions a reality.  There really is nothing better than to have happy collaborations!

          The past several weeks have been quite an adventure for me.  I have been studying and researching about five different stories in order to write songs about them.  The first two songs came quite easily for the story of "Henny Penny and Chicken Licken."  What I learned about this story was quite compelling.  I learned that this was a very old story with similar origins from many cultures.  It was finally written down in storybook form in the early 19th century in England.  I learned that the rhyming names -- Henny Penny, Turkey Lurkey, Cocky Locky, and others -- were used in order to help beginner readers enjoy the patterns of the English language.  I also learned that during WWII, this story was used to illustrate the situation of fear-mongering going on between the Nazis and the Allies.  The name "Chicken Licken" became an idiom to describe those who foolishly followed their irrational fears.  The phrase "The sky is falling" became an idiom describing those irrational fears.  And, of course, "Foxy Loxy" came to represent those fear-mongers who prey on the weak and gullible.

         So, obviously, the first song, "The Sky Is Falling," needed to introduce what happens in the story.  Chicken Licken, the very small and very naive young chick, goes out walking one Autumn day, when suddenly a little acorn falls onto her head.  She does not know what to think, so she runs to tell her mother that the sky is falling and a part of it has fallen on her head.  She gets Henny Penny all worked up and they decide to go tell the king together.  On their way, they find other gullible fowl who also go along with them.  Along the road, they meet a clever fox who says that he will gladly show them the way to find the king.  Instead, he leads them into his den and gobbles them up.  This is actually a very disturbing end of the story for the young readers.  I needed to make the music upbeat and fun despite the fact of the silly birds untimely demise.
         The second song, "The Clever Plan," needed to sum up the story and I decided that it also needed to explain a clear moral.  So, in a minor mode with sneaky sounding accompaniment, I retold how the fox had a clever plan to lure the fowl to his den.  "He took advantage of a foolish fear and got himself a meal."  Then, "The moral of this tale is clear: Don't be persuaded by a foolish fear.  Just get the facts before you act, or you will be the fool!"

          Eventually, I would like to create a full scale Children's Musical developing this tale.  I think this idea of being courageous when confronting your fears is an important part of growing up.  We certainly have many factors in our world today that may make us think that the sky is falling down around us.  Perhaps we all need to be reminded not to be persuaded by a foolish fear!