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

The Song Is Ended, But the Melody Lingers on

6/26/2019

How does that Irving Berlin/Ira Gershwin ballad go? "The song is ended, but the melody lingers on..."

Sometimes the success of a show is measured by how long the melodies linger on. Many of my Camp Participant's parents approach me even now saying that they still hear their kids singing the tunes from the show around the house. (It has been several weeks now since our performance.) That is such a compliment. Of course, I hope that my songs and their messages linger in the minds of the children. That is the entire point of doing the show. I hope that they will remember to Be Sincere and that Everybody Works AND that these things are GOOD!

But I am floored that the most memorable song from Never Cry Wolf this summer has been the Little Lamb's dance. My daughter's little 22 month old daughter Avery goes around singing "Baa, Baa, Baa" and doing the little dance moves almost nonstop daily. Notice the very nice first position turnout in the feet, the preparatory plie', and the lovely arm position on the turn. This girl is destined to be a ballerina! She will surely become a triple threat -- she can sing (of course, right now she specializes in one word songs as long as that word is "Baa"); she certainly can dance; and here in the household we have witnessed her tendencies towards being a drama queen! To me, that definitely spells T-R-I-P-L-E T-H-R-E-A-T!

When I wrote the first iteration of this show about 20 years ago now, I just needed a little song simple enough for three five-year-old girls to perform. They had had no previous performing experience and were scared of their own shadows. Until the moment of the performance, I could not be certain these three little girls would do anything that they had been taught. But, they surprised us all and had the the audience giggling so much they nearly fell off their chairs. There simply is no arguing with CUTE FACTOR.

So, while I would prefer that "Set for Posterity" or "A View from the Highest Mountain" or "Tapestry of Life" would be the hit songs from the show, I am still pleased that "Baa Baa Baa" enjoys such longevity. The Camp might have ended, but the Song lingers on...

The Show Goes On...and thank goodness for help from family!

4/24/2019

I am happy to report that the Summer Theater Camp Compromise Schedule is GO for launch. The families were thrilled that we were able to skillfully tip-toe around family vacations, Young Women's Camp, Scout High Adventure trips, the 5th Grade Science Camp, a Youth Temple Trip, and Swim Team meets. But in order to enroll the older girls we needed, we also included some younger siblings. Fortunately, this show can absorb many participants. Our final enrollment count is 49 students ages almost 5 to 13 years old.

My son is busy making some props and set pieces for me. I have collected most of the pieces I need to do this show from doing it several times over the years, but each stage presents its own challenges. I need "ancient" columns, a few low wooden stools, and a "rock" for the shepherd boy to sit on. My son is donating his woodworking skills to the project -- but he is only available this week. Gotta use the help while I can get it.

My daughter will be helping me with scenic painting as well as collecting the free cardboard flats we will need to create the "distant" mountains in the background. She will also paint a whitewashed rock cottage with a red tiled roof. Can't decide if we will even bother to paint the columns with carved details. It will remain to be seen if we have enough time for detail work.

Another daughter promised to come down for a few rehearsals to teach the most important choreography to the oldest girls. She doesn't have time to help us polish the dancing, but I will take all the help I can get. It will be fun to see her recreate some of the dancing she did when she premiered this show back when she was 14.

I am so grateful we were able to avoid disappointing Summer Theater Camp participants this year. And I am especially grateful for the help from my wonderful family!

Compromise Schedule

4/17/2019

So, this summer's Theater Camp pre-registrations started off very well. I had 35 kids sign up within the first couple of weeks. Then, I started noticing that no older girls (10-12+) had signed up. NONE. "Never Cry Wolf" has some pretty critical parts for that older girl group.

That made me start inquiring to find out why the girls who usually signed up were not registering. Come to find out, our Stake Young Women's Camp was one of those weeks. I thought I had remembered that YW Camp was always the 2nd week of June. But this year, it is the first week of June.

Then, I drew up what I thought was a schedule that should work for most of those families. I added a third week of camp and divided up the students into two divisions. The Older kids would come the first week, the Younger kids would come the second week, and the Everybody would come the third week. The Performance would be on Saturday of the third week.

Unfortunately, that schedule caused more problems for the people who had already signed up. Many families had vacations, or Youth Activity trips, or other situations that would affect their children's participation. So, again, I did some investigating. I used this information to develop yet another Camp Schedule.

Oh, I hope that this NEW COMPROMISE SCHEDULE works out. It is all I can think of to do. I need those older students!

So we are scheduling the Older students from May 28-June1 and June 3 to come to Camp. Then the Younger students from June 1, and June 3-7. Then EVERYONE from June 8, and June 10-12. Sometimes the days overlap, and sometimes the groups meet separately. This might be very good for all of us because I could work more individually with each age group.

The Performance would then be on Wednesday June 12 at 6:00 pm. Hopefully this will fit the schedules of the largest amount of families that have already signed up. Wish us luck!

Flyer for 2019 Camp Production of Never Cry Wolf

4/1/2019

Just love my daughter Katelyn's artwork!

Summer Theater Camp

3/21/2019

Last year, I had to cancel my usual backyard Summer Theater Camp because my husband was so sick. After his passing last week, I decided that he would want me to continue to do summer camps. After all, he built me a beautiful shed to house all of my props and scenery and helped me create all sorts of set pieces for the shows. He would want me to get busy doing the things I love. Besides, our grandchildren who have been living with us just may want to be in the show.

The Musical I intend to do is "Never Cry Wolf" a retelling of the Aesop fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." This show can accommodate many children of differing heights to depict various populations, but my patio "stage" is limited. I know 30-35 children fill the space to capacity, and having more can get crowded. But then again, with this show, not everyone needs to be on the stage at the same time, so I might be able to expand the cast to 40-45. I have done this show with 40 kids and 50 kids and even 75 kids. But those times, I had more space and more helpers.

This play has many featured roles: the Teachers/Muses, the Old Woman, the Villagers, the Women, Musicians/Dancers, the Politicians, the Father and Mother and siblings of the Contrary Boy, and Aesop.
The younger children will play School Children, Servants, Military Academy Boys, the little Sheep and the Wolf. And I simply must have a flamboyant actor to play "Altair the Magnificent."

Whenever I choose a show, I need to have an idea of just who might sign up to be in the cast. Sure, I know that I'll get a bunch of little 5-7 year olds, and I have parts for them, but they can't carry a show. Even the 8-9 year olds are not mature enough to carry an entire show like this. I need to plan our camp schedule around the older kids who I know have the talent and capacity to learn the lines, songs and dances quickly and CAN carry the show. So, I end up doing a little investigating. I find out when school ends, when Scout trips are scheduled, and who might be on the swim teams, etc. Not that I will pre-cast the lead parts before I see the children, but it is good to have choices. I will be accepting children ages 5 - 14 years old.

I am still working out the exact dates. The Summer Theater Camp will likely be May 27th - June 7th (9am - Noon Mon-Fri) with a performance on Saturday June 8th at 10:00 am.

I love this show because the moral values taught are so important -- Sincerity and Work.

Contact me if you live in the Provo Utah area and have kids that would be interested.

FORGOT about Memorial Day on May 27th. So we will probably have to work around that day. Possibly add an extra 1/2 hour onto our days or add a Saturday. I will post soon what we decide.

The Tale of Chicken Licken

8/31/2018

Just spent the morning locating lost files from the show "The Tale of Chicken Licken." I really do try to keep things organized, but my worst problem is that I don't remember the exact names of the files or the names of the folders I put them in. Somehow I get many extra copies of files that I do not intend to save and cannot find the one file that somehow is missing. Clearly, keeping files organized and accounted for is not my super power!

Elementary School stage and set

While hunting through the audio files, I had to listen to many over and over to find the best recordings. This brought back so many fun memories. I had to think long and hard to remember why I even wrote this show. Turns out that this story was one of five that I was asked to write a couple of companion songs for. My Taiwanese friend's business is to provide easy reader stories to help teach English as a foreign language to children in Asia. I wrote the 10 songs and did simple recordings for him to go with the Reader's Theater scripts at the end of each picture book. The songs were for "Chicken Licken," "Dick Whittington and His Cat," "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," "The Musicians of Bremen," and "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse." He gave me permission to retain the copyrights to the songs and use them however.

At the time, I was directing the school musicals for a local Elementary School. Then, at the end of the Spring Show for the 4th-6th graders, the principal asked me to direct a Fall Musical for the younger grades. I had already written two songs for "Chicken Licken," so why not use that story to create a show for the 1st-3rd graders?

I quickly wrote a script and several more songs and decided to try it out as a Summer Theater Camp show. One of the parents made a video of this little production. So, the show needed a little more polish, but the kids had a lot of fun putting all together. It was a good run-through before I directed it again for the Elementary School. We had a lot more time to practice and solidify the lines and songs. The Fall Show was very well received. The entire school came to see it and really enjoyed themselves. Too bad we did not get any pictures or video.

As I remembered back on writing this show, I reflected on how brave I was at beginning to really orchestrate my scores. I had such fun amazing myself at what I could do with the sounds on my computer and adding layers with my keyboard. The sound was much better at the Elementary School production because we could use body microphones for the main actors. That helped a lot! The audience said that the balance of the sound was pretty good, and they really liked the songs. That made me so happy!

All in all, a nice walk down memory lane!

Red Butte Garden Summer Theater Camps

7/26/2018

During June, my daughter Cami directed two of my Children's Theater productions at Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City. The camps are each just one week long, so the material had to be short and manageable. She did "Stone Soup" with a group of 7-10 year olds and "The Ants and the Grasshopper" with 4-6 year olds. As you can see, the living wall in the "Orangerie" was a beautiful backdrop for the show.

The children provided their own costumes and helped create their own props and scenery. Here the Ants march in carrying their enormous corn kernels.

Each show needed to tie in with nature because the camps are associated with the Gardens. So of course, the instructors wove learning about "nature" as the children learned their songs, dances, and lines. It was a lot to master in just 5 days! They also colored giant autumn leaves and glittered huge snowflakes!

I actually got to watch the second show. The little children were delightful. They sang and danced and delivered their lines amazingly well for having so few actual hours of practice time.

They met for three hours Monday through Friday and had to learn three main songs and two dances. They also had to have time for doing their crafts and learning about nature and playing at recess. So, they probably only got eight hours of actual rehearsal time.

The message of the story is to plan ahead like the Ants do in gathering food all summer so that they have enough stored for the winter. The Ant Queen tells the shivering Grasshopper (who desperately wants a place to stay during the winter) that "You can either play now and pay later, or pay now and play later. Either way you'll have to pay!" (John Maxwell quote) The Ants invite the Grasshopper to entertain them while they dance and play all winter. He learns that the Ants drive a hard bargain! After playing the ukulele for them all winter, he decides that he will make sure he always plans for the future!

Kudos to the kids! They did a great job!

Mounting a Mini-Musical

8/29/2014

In the theater world, we call the preparation, casting, rehearsing, and doing all things related to producing a musical play MOUNTING a production. To put on a full-scale production or even a scaled-back production involves many elements and takes time and energy.

So, how much time should I allow to do all it takes to MOUNT a production?

That will depend on a few things: Schedule, Budget, Helpers, and the Stage, well actually, the availability of rehearsal and performance spaces.

Schedule - My rule of thumb for doing a 20-30 minute children’s theater production is to plan 20 to 25+ hours of rehearsal time. For a longer, more complicated show plan 30-35+ hours at a bare minimum. Now, MOUNTING a smaller in-class mini-musical with fewer complications may only take 6-10 hours of dedicated rehearsal/teaching time depending on how many extra teaching activities you want to include. Plan the schedule very carefully to work the children in short segments. Vary the activities every 10-15 minutes so that they stay invigorated through singing, movement, doing worksheets, thinking/memorizing/lecture time, and acting segments and still be able to get much accomplished in each session.

Budget – Most shows can be MOUNTED with any amount of budget depending on how creative the Director is. Sets and Costumes can be very expensive especially when multiplied by the size of the cast. Some productions do not absolutely require elaborate sets and costumes. Find shows that have suggestions for alternate ways to MOUNT them. Decide what you can afford and design the production accordingly.

Helpers – In order to do a musical, the main “helpers” are the Director, Assistant Director (or producer), musical director or vocal coach, stage manager, choreographer, costumer, and scenic designer, and they may even want helpers to help them. If you do not have people to do these jobs, the few helpers available must do all of the jobs. Depending on the size of the cast, try to use the 10:1 rule. For every 8-10 children have at least one adult helper. That way, the jobs can be equally divided and the children’s varied activities can be more easily managed.

Stage – “It’s all about the stage” or lack thereof. In the theater world, this is a common mantra. Creating the illusion of the world in the story is literally a function of the stage and its limitations. Sometimes a show must be MOUNTED in a portion of a classroom with none of the conventional perks (lights, sound, curtains, backstage prep area, space, space, and more space). Sometimes a show will be MOUNTED in a gym with a stage, but the stage still has few of the conventional perks. So, once again, the production has to be designed within the confines of the space available. In order to be successful, Directors must be creative! Sometimes the show won’t move to the stage until the last couple of rehearsals. In order to effectively rehearse, the rehearsal space must closely match the stage dimensions. Be sure to measure and set up barriers as necessary to make the practice space resemble closely the feeling of the actual stage.

So get out there and start MOUNTING one of the Musicals on this site or one of the Mini-Musicals coming soon! Break a leg!

Almost Ready

8/4/2014

Over the last few weeks I have been finishing up the writing of scripts to some Mini-Musicals (10-15 minutes in duration) for the Classroom setting. The first four titles are "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse," "Dick Whittington and His Cat," "The Musicians of Bremen," and "The Tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff." These stories are very well-known and have been loved for generations, if not centuries. The challenge has been to keep their particular traits intact while giving them a few new twists and turns.

When I taught General Music Classes in school, I always seemed to need a kind of culminating event to wrap all of the curriculum goals into a finished project. So what if we learned some songs and how to read some notation, and play some instruments and learned something about history or culture? Unless we could do a performance of some kind, all of those goals just seemed to fizzle and lose momentum. These classroom Musicals are designed to meet this need on as high or low a level as the teacher desires. They could even be done as part of a Chorus Concert, in a Drama Class, or for a Home School Co-Op Enrichment Activity, or in the regular School Classroom.

Each story has an historical setting with songs reflecting the musical style period. The script can simply be produced during class as a Reader's Theater, or the show can be performed with simple costumes, props and scenery in the classroom or on a stage. Each mini-musical calls for a cast of 5-10 characters plus employs the rest of the class as a Chorus with jobs integral to the performance. The actors read and/or act out the lines, but the Chorus kids help sing the songs, play rhythm instruments and provide sound effects within the framework of the narration. Some of the stories teach interesting Theatrical concepts and practices from long ago. Some have comedic action and adventure. Some explore use of dialects and accents. Some provide a stepping stone to studying music from famous composers. Some employ the use of puppetry. They can even be performed with choreography. Besides, these stories are excellent entertainment!

Each packet will include a Lesson Plan and Student Activity sheets, along with the Teacher's Script, Reproducible Scripts, Lead Sheets to the Songs, and a CD with Guide Performance and Accompaniment Tracks. Piano/Vocal Scores to the songs will be available separately. The scripts are geared to fit two general age-ranges: K-3rd grades and 4th-6th grades.

They are almost ready. Should be available by September!

The Tale of Chicken Licken - Preview

7/1/2014

Announcing:

The newest Children's Musical from BaileyKidsMusicals.com

"The Tale of Chicken Licken."

After working feverishly for the past week, I am happy to say that all of the ducks and chicks and geese are lined up and in order and will be ready to launch in a few days!

Watch a preview of this comical cautionary tale taped from my summer intensive Theater Camp. These children were real troupers to attempt to learn and perform entirely new material including seven new songs in 10 days and 20 hours of rehearsal. But just remember, the real title is "The Tale of Chicken Licken."