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

New Character, New Song

8/12/2021

"I think my 3-year-old granddaughter has a crush on the Fox."

That's the kind of comment that is really appreciated in children's theater. I don't like to write scary stuff into my scripts. I don't want to scare the little children. So, this go around of Summer Theater Camp, I wrote an expanded part for the obvious "bad guy" where he actually becomes a sympathetic, and funny guy, and perhaps even a heart throb in the eyes of the audience. (After all, I modeled him after Elvis.)

Many years ago now, I was sitting in a darkened theater watching Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" with my 3-year-old sister. She was absolutely terrified by Maleficent and the Dragon. She hid her eyes and covered her ears and buried herself in my lap. I held her as tightly as I could to help her feel safe. To this day, I don't think she likes watching "Sleeping Beauty." Scary stuff, that.

Anyway, I wanted to make "The Tale of Chicken Licken" into a Family-Friendly comedy. So glad I did, and that the 12-year-old actor who played the Fox was so engaging and entertaining. One mom said, "That boy has LEADING MAN written all over him!"

Makes me happy to have delighted the audience with this revised show. Soon I will have this version with the new song available on the website.

Changing Gears

6/9/2021

Because of scheduling conflicts and other Pandemic related issues, enrollment was down for my Summer Theater Camp. So, rather than cancel the camp, I decided to switch shows. The show I have decided would work well for the number of kids that have enrolled is "The Tale of Chicken Licken." This little story is particularly good for this time of pandemic. It is all about being careful not to give into foolish FEARS.

While visiting with an older lady in the neighborhood several years ago, she related her story as a child of living through the fears associated with World War II. Her story inspired me to write this play.

She said that she lived near San Francisco near the Air Force Base. Her house was directly under the flight lanes of the big cargo planes coming and going from the base. She also heard the extremely loud warning sirens a lot. As a little girl, these things gave her great anxieties.

Anxieties such as hers were common among the other children in her class at school. She told me that her teacher often read the story of Chicken Licken to the class. The teacher wanted the students to learn that mis-understanding often leads to assumptions that can cause fears. But getting the facts and learning to understand them can help ease fears. Knowledge is power.

"The Tale of Chicken Licken" is all about how one foolish fear grew all out of proportion. It even caused the demise of those foolish birds who were caught up in the mania. This show portrays a cautionary "tale within a tale." The hope is to help the barnyard fowl to not fall into the same trap that previous birds did.

Despite the message about fears, the songs are upbeat and fun. The costumes are, too. It is a very enjoyable show!

Avoiding Stereotypes

5/22/2021

Last night I watched the movie of Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Flower Drum Song" (1961) again. After the movie, the commentators really dug into deep subjects. They analyzed how this movie explored the themes of illegal immigration and fighting Asian stereotypes on screen. I had read that Oscar Hammerstein was very interested in dissolving racial bias wherever he could through his writing. These analysts compared the typical roles Asian people, particularly Asian women, played on screen and how those roles portrayed them as cooks, servants, call girls, evil gangsters, or running a Chinese laundry. They never portrayed Asian people as regular folks leading real and interesting lives.

At age 8 when I first saw the movie, it never really occurred to me to consider the plight of Asian people trying to survive and assimilate into a new culture.

Hearing such deep analysis always makes me feel so shallow. Mostly, I grew up enjoying "The Flower Drum Song" because I liked the music. My mother bought the folio of songs and I had fun playing and singing them as a young teenager. We even went to see a touring production in Houston starring Jack Soo (who was also in the movie). After the show, we met him and got his autograph. Back then, I just accepted the show as an entertaining story about Chinese people in China town. I never even questioned how unique it was to see a live theater performance featuring a cast made up of just Asian actors.

When adapting a story or folk tale from another culture for Children's Theater, I have often wondered whether I would cause offense. Knowing that these shows would most likely be performed by kids NOT of the culture represented, I wondered if the meat of the story could carry the show.

I ultimately decided that since the actors and the audiences were already prepared to "suspend their disbelief," they could accept kids portraying Persian Princesses, Chinese Emperors, mythical Greek Muses, tiny Insects, or assorted Barnyard Animals whatever they looked like in real life.

So, here's to hoping that a cast of many skin tones and hair colors can pull off a convincing production of "A Successor to the Throne" in this summer's Musical Theater Camp.

Cousins Theater Camp

6/9/2020

Our Bailey Family Reunion is coming up in July. We are determined to get some new Family Portraits taken that reflect the changes in our family. Since the last picture we have gained three new members! That needs to be documented! We also plan to do anything fun we can think of that is allowed in this time of Covid-19 Pandemic Social Distancing.

I recently pitched the idea of having a Cousins Theater Camp as part of our Bailey Family Reunion in July. I was feeling deprived that I wouldn't be able to have regular Summer Theater Camps either in my backyard or in Pennsylvania for a daughter's Church group.

Looks like everyone is on board!

This is the perfect year for having the cousins camp for our 8 boys and 16 girls. We have a big core group of children that fall into the right ages between 4-13. We have a few older siblings who have agreed to be helpers and a few younger who, no doubt, will lend some refreshing comic relief with their inventive creative dancing. (The youngest girls are ages 18 months and almost 3)

The show is a musical retelling of the Aesop Fable "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse." Not everybody is invested enough to spend a lot of time learning staging and memorizing parts. Some would rather not be on stage at all. But that is not the point!

The point is that a few of the 8-12 year old girls had significant rolls in cancelled school shows, and had also been signed up to do a Theater Camp this summer. But due to circumstances beyond their control, they have been denied these opportunities. So, I have simplified this little script so that these girls can do the parts that require more preparation and the others kids can just do the lighter fun parts.

We are doing a Theater Camp in a day, or rather 4 hours, start to finish. Most will come with their songs learned and their one-liner parts memorized. We will spend the morning learning some simple staging and movement. The oldest girls are teenagers --- two are theater geeks who will act as Narrator/Prompters, and the other two will be little Kid Wranglers. The older boys will be stage hands and sound techs. Fortunately, these children have mothers who have all had a lot of theatrical experience and will help make this happen.

That leaves very few in the audience, just the dads basically, but we don't care! They just better laugh and applaud ---- ON CUE!

Planning Summer Theater Camp 2020

2/26/2020

Imperial Garden Dance

Someone commented to me the other day that summer plans for kids get busier every year. I am not sure that's exactly true, but it may be. I am sure that depending on how many children are in a family and how old they are might play a big part in how busy the schedules are for that family.

Anyway, determining when to hold my Summer Theater Camp has certainly become more challenging over the years. Because I cater mostly to the families in my neighborhood, I learn about all of the plans and scheduling difficulties of these families. My Camp has to compete with Swim Team, Young Women's Camp, Youth Conference, and even 5th Grade Science Camp, not to mention family vacations, Family Reunions and the 4th of July.

We all prefer to do the outdoor backyard Camp in June when the weather is somewhat cool (by summer standards in Utah anyway). Later in the summer has many more complications with Utah's Patriotic and Pioneer holidays. August is very short because school starts in the third week. Besides July and August are usually very HOT! As I sent around a questionnaire about possible dates for Theater Camp, nearly everyone said that they preferred June.

That left me scratching my head trying to figure this all out.

Last year, we held camp over three weeks, but called different ages of children on different days to skirt around everybody's conflicts. Guess that is what we will end up doing this year, too.

The good news is that I have picked a show, "A Successor to the Throne." This was actually the second show we produced for a summer theater camp in our backyard in about 2011. My daughter and her friends directed it with a group of the neighborhood children. It was a great success, even though we had some mighty rain storms that threatened to halt the show. At the last minute, the sun broke through and the show could go on.

Ah, the joys of outdoor children's theater!
* * * * * * *
One of my favorite parts of this show is all of the Chinese Dances. The girls get to dance using parasols, ribbon wands, dance fans, puppets, and lots of flowers. They have a fun time and the dances are beautiful!

Another Summer Camp Show: Momotaro

6/29/2019

Epic Battle against the Oni Monsters

Momotaro a Tale of Bravery was performed at the Red Butte Gardens Summer Camps last week. This play is adapted from a very famous Japanese folktale about a boy who is delivered to a childless old couple inside a peach. It is an adventure story about how this boy grows up to become the hero of the village. Without the use of weapons, with just his courage bright, he fought the Oni Monsters to rid his village from their evil powers. As he goes off on his Quest, he meets a monkey, a dog and a pheasant who are brave enough to help him battle the Oni. In the end, they return victorious to a grateful village.

My daughter was the director. She and her team had just one week to help the students learn their lines, songs and dances, to make their costumes and fantasy masks, to paint the scenery and to make their props. The kids gave a very nice performance and sang, danced and acted their hearts out. This program is an example of how to do a Theater Camp show in a very minimalistic treatment. Each student had a human character and a fantasy character. They used old shirts to create "kimonos" for their human character costume. They made masks for their fantasy characters such as the Animals, Oni Monsters, and Spirits. They even made a fantasy dancing forest using twigs with tissue paper leaves. The students obviously had a lot of pride in ownership of this show. Good job, campers!

The backdrop of the amphitheater at Red Butte Gardens was beautiful. Unfortunately, the direction of the sun did not allow for very good pictures.

Animal friends returning victorious with Momotaro

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...

So Proud of My Young Performers

6/13/2019

Lyla's beautiful hairdo

The Summer Theater Camp Production of "Never Cry Wolf" was performed very well by our intrepid young cast members! We had an audience of near 200 spectators including family, friends, and interested neighbors. And, the only noise competition was the drone of EFY kids playing games at the field a few blocks away. (NO power tools in the neighbors yards, thankfully!) The sound system wasn't great, but helped some. The high clouds gave some relief to the audience. The performances were solid and the kids looked great in their costumes and fancy hairstyles. They all looked sharp!

Early morning light on set.

Comments from audience:
"I loved how you took this very short story and gave it so much body! Songs, dances, a great message! The show was so enjoyable! I can even sing the songs....Everybody works, everybody's got a job to do."

"My favorite number was the "Military March." Loved watching the boys march in formation with their cool shields."

"You must have ruled over the performers with an iron hand! They looked so professional!"

Deep Dark Woods

"I don't know what I was expecting, but I was delightfully surprised by what I saw! This was so entertaining and fun. We usually don't expect to be entertained by going to see the grandkids' productions. But this was really great!"

"The Little Lambs stole the show! They were adorable! My little 12 month old daughter thought she was one of the Lambs. They were singing a word she could say! Baa Baa Baa!"

"The songs were great! So fun to have so many styles of music represented in one show! Loved the variety --- especially the "Set It for Posterity" number. Great fun seeing the kids erupt into 1960's dances."

"That was a great show Betsy! Thanks for sharing your talents with us! I'm so glad we get to be involved with such a great activity every year."

"Thank you from our entire family for another wonderful drama camp. My kids came home glowing every day from the confidence you helped them find."

"This is the 6th show my kids have been in. And it is the favorite!"

Ever Wonder Why You Do the Things You Do?

6/6/2019

The past two weeks have been a blur of activity at our Summer Theater Camp. The first four days were spent getting to know and teach the older children (9-13). Then on Saturday and Monday we added the younger children (5-8 year olds). The younger children come this week to try to learn their parts without the older kids. This is not really the optimum use of time seeing that these groups often interact with each other on stage, but it was the only solution we could come up with given all of the families' busy schedules. Thank goodness some of the older boys (who play lead characters) are willing to come extra days to work with the younger kids. We are missing the older girls though. They are off to girl's camp for four days this week.

Each day I have tried to plan a schedule to check off the list of things to accomplish. But, I am afraid that we have not actually kept to the schedule. The children are young and sometimes it takes longer than expected for them to learn the things they need to. But thankfully, I have some great helpers to teach the music and dances and help with acting and shepherding our little "Lambs." Also, some interested parents have just appeared willing to be volunteer helpers. Today my sister is coming to do costume fittings with the younger kids. Last night, my daughter helped me paint some set pieces. Yet, I still have a lot to do!

"Why do I do this?" I wonder.

   So many theater groups do the same popular shows over and over such as Disney's "Little Mermaid Jr." or "Aladdin Jr." or "Seussical the Musical Jr." Those shows are great for what they are and the music is wonderful, of course. And it is true that people like what they know. The popular title draws the crowd. But are these shows always the best choice for young children?

     I prefer mounting shows for the youngest children that help teach good character traits and moral values (and NEVER have LOVE scenes). I also prefer doing shows where each participant is busy for the whole production. Many of the popular shows feature just a few actors and everybody else gets lost in the few crowd scenes.

   Last night I overheard my 7-year-old grandson 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 as we were painting. 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 are to perform it in the show.

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

Rainy Days...

5/22/2019

This Spring weather here in Utah has seemed more like the East Coast. We have had a lot of rainy cold days and it is late May! Granted, my back yard is so green, I can hardly believe that I live in a desert land. But, I wonder if we will ever see the sun again to dry us out enough to host a Theater Camp in my back yard.

Yesterday I spent all day working on a Schedule for the days of Camp. I have five rehearsal spaces at my house --- the Music Room, the Family Room, the Basement Family Room, the Basketball Court and the Patio Stage. Three spaces are indoors and big enough for 10-12 children to work at a time, but what do I do if all the days are rainy and cold with 50 kids? Fortunately, I have some good helpers so that we can split into smaller groups to work the songs, lines and dances. Just hope we get access to our Stage areas so that we can really block and run the scenes and dances. I confess, the weather is making me nervous!

One previous year was similar to this. We had very diverse weather for Camp. We had many hot dry days of over 95 degrees. There were also cold days with rain and even hail! We also had mighty wind storms that blew away our shade structures. That year the show was scheduled for a Saturday morning. The night before, the rain, wind and hail continued until about 4:00 am. In June, where our house is situated, the sun does not come over the mountain to dry us out until 8:29 am precisely. We had just enough time for the sun to dry the grass and cement enough to be able to set out the electrical cords for the sound system and set up chairs before the 10:00 am show. Hanging the drapes along the patio and setting out the scenery took a leap of faith. I remember being so grateful for the sun and no stiff breezes that morning!

Well, hopefully we will be blessed again this year with enough good weather days to have a successful Summer Theater Camp. I am keeping the faith that we will!