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

Making Adjustments

6/23/2022

Often times going into a show I know many of the children. Then again, even the children I have known grow and make big changes from year to year. I learned long ago something about creating a Children's Theater Musical --- create the characters in terms of age or size groups. That way going into production you already have an idea about how to cast. You just need to make final adjustments when you see the kids.

First, I organize the enrollees into age groups. Then I look at their heights. Some of the younger children may have to play an "older" character because they are tall for their age. This play has two definite populations --- adults and children. Obviously, the smaller children must play the children. This time, we have one very tall 12 year-old girl who will be a head taller than the other girls near her age. She will even be taller than all of the boys. We decided to give her a featured role where her height will be an asset, not a liability.

Over the years I have done "A Successor to the Throne" quite a few times. I have collected costumes for that show in many size ranges. I ask the families to send in the heights of their children even before they turn in their Registration Forms. That helps me organize the costumes to make sure I have enough that will work.

For example, this show has many dance numbers for the girl population. Five pink Spring dancers, two yellow Summer dancers, three Autumn dancers, and 4 Winter dancers. Because of the sizes of the kimonos, I know which age groups I must pull the dancers from. Practically all of the girls sing and dance in these numbers, but the featured dancers need to fit into those particular costumes.

Of course, for some of the characters, the final decisions cannot be made until I actually meet with the kids. If a character has a solo, he better be chosen from the boys who can sing well. If a character has a bigger line load or must play comedy, she better be picked from the girls who can do those things.

This show has many featured roles with speaking lines and solo songs. No one character has to "carry" the show, though. The lines and songs are distributed fairly evenly amongst many characters. That's why we can presume to produce this show from start to finish in just 30 hours of concentrated rehearsals. The trick is to have enough adult specialists to help. Two of my daughters and some nieces will be helping me this show. I am so blessed!

Character Values

6/17/2022

Kindness, Honesty, Sincerity, Integrity, Courage, Gratitude, Appreciation -these are but a few of the important Character Values we acknowledge are needed in society. Good parents hope to instill these values in their children. Many schools have incorporated programs such as "Character Counts," advocating and teaching these values. But in many areas, these values are forgotten.

Before I began writing Musicals for Children's Theater, I was in a position to need to choose vehicles for our youngest population in our Theater Camps. I searched and searched to find material we could use that fit our criteria. We needed shows with Flexible Cast options. (Usually we had many more girls than boys who enrolled.) We needed shows with Featured Parts for every cast member. We needed Engaging Stories and Singable Songs. We needed shows that could be mounted successfully with a Limited Budget yet worthy enough be mounted on the main stage with all the bells and whistles.

I got frustrated that so much of the material out there did not fit our mission and criteria. The shows "talked down" to our youngsters. The songs and lines were quite "baby-ish" and dumb musically. Almost every story featured a boy as the Lead character. Most had only a few featured parts with lesser ensemble parts. Some had Love stories -- a huge no-no when working with this age group! And a lot of these stories were built on way-out fantasies. The costume potential was fun, but in reality, they had no other redeeming features.

As I was searching for Children's Musicals for the very young, I saw mostly shows using Grimm's Fairy Tales, Aesop Fables, and other folk tales, But, the good productions of these stories tended to be for older casts. I also noticed that most of these productions lacked "heart." They were so shallow, just skimming over the greater significance of the tales.

Why do a show for kids, performed by kids, unless it is useful to those kids?

So, I have made it my mission to write Children's Musicals that are entertaining and fun but clearly have "heart," or an overarching moral or value that is never preached but is nonetheless present.

"A Successor to the Throne" - Honesty, Integrity
"Never Cry Wolf" - Sincerity, Work
"The Adventures of Dick Whittington" - Kindness
"Momotaro" - Bravery
"Stone Soup" - Cooperation
"The Country Mouse and the City Mouse" - Appreciation
"Parizade's Quest" - Love, Reuniting of Family
"The Ants and the Grasshopper" - Planning Ahead, Gratitude
"The Three Billy Goats Gruff" - Patience
"The Musicians of Bremen" - Optimism, Dealing with age and Change
"The Tale of Chicken Licken" - Overcoming Fear

Enjoy "Worthy to Admire" from "A Successor to the Throne" sung by Mitchell Bailey age 10.

The Extra Dance Number

6/13/2022

We were driving along, when my son suddenly burst out singing "Shapoopie" from "The Music Man." Something had prompted him to start singing his own alternate words to this comic dance number. He got us all laughing hysterically. Then he said that he really didn't understand why that song was even included in the movie which is possibly already the longest musical in history. Besides, it is so silly.

My sister explained that sometimes an extra dance number is needed in a musical to perform certain functions. In a live stage show, an extra dance number might be used to cover complicated set changes or costume changes. It might serve as a time when the ensemble gets another needed chance to perform, or it can just provide some comic relief. "Shapoopie" serves all of those roles as well as giving some plot subtext to help develop the "love" story between the main characters.

Having an "extra" dance number for the ensemble is actually tremendously important. The performers need to feel properly utilized when they do a show. There is nothing worse than being cast in a very long show where most of the ensemble members just sit backstage playing cards for hours. Besides, the energy infused into the show by colorful dance numbers is felt and usually greatly appreciated by the audience. When a show's energy lags, an "extra" dance number is just what perks it up again.

My Summer Theater Camp Show this year is actually filled with many dance numbers. "A Successor to the Throne" keeps the entire cast busy from beginning to end. Many of the dancers are especially busy with quick costume changes and picking up specific dance props such as parasols, fans, ribbon wands, and farm tools (yes, farm tools are used in a dance about working in the summertime). I have been busy trying to figure out who gets to dance in which numbers and how they get on and off our little patio stage!

Color

5/18/2022

COLOR is an interesting word. In Art, it can mean different VARIATIONS of pigment as seen in nature or the color wheel. Other meanings also denote VARIATIONS, but in MUSIC could be in sounds or dynamics, in POETRY and PROSE could mean variations in tone or word choices. Usually, COLOR means seeing extra depth of BEAUTY.

Artists and designers talk about COLOR THEORY all the time. They make choices based on what they have learned about CONTRASTING (colors opposite on the color wheel), MONOCHROMATIC (using only a few similar hues), or PRIMARY (using red, yellow and blue or colors all in the same SATURATED TEMPERATURE) color schemes.

Color theory principles can also apply to MUSIC and the other arts. For example composers try to use CONTRASTS, TONE VALUES, and LIKE or DISSIMILAR INSTRUMENT CHARACTERISTICS for interest and variation. They also use TEMPERATURE VALUES in PHRASING, building to a CLIMAX, and for DYNAMICS.

When writing musical settings for lyrics, composers may try to WORD PAINT. They try to translate the meanings of the words into matching musical ideas. Some composers are extremely good at this. Others, not so much. And sometimes, as in the case of hymn texts, some are matched with hymn tunes that seem to have no relation to the meaning of the texts at all.

When writing songs for a musical, successful composers try to come up with THEMES to set the tone of the story, to identify characters, and to move the plot along. Even in Children’s Shows that rarely have UNDERSCORING even during action sequences, musical themes help deepen the understanding of the audience and give them clues about the characters' emotions.

"A Successor to the Throne” is a Children’s Musical that just cries out for COLOR. Studying the costumes and architectural styles of ancient China give plenty of ideas for use in mounting a production. Ancient Chinese dances employed the use of dance props such as parasols, ribbon wands, dance fans or scarves. Children can learn simple techniques using these to create beautiful visual pictures on stage. Imperial pageantry calls out for dramatic instrumentation such as gongs and bells. Pentatonic scale tricks also help place this story squarely in ancient China.

Writing this Musical was quite satisfying because it offered so many ways to make it COLORFUL! For example, some of the THEMES in this show illustrate emotions such as:

ANTICIPATION —- “Successor to the Throne’” sung by children
MELANCHOLY — “Autumn Lingers on the Breeze” sung by Mothers
DISCOURAGEMENT —- “O Little Seed” sung by Deshi
LONGING —- ”Wintertime” sung by children

Enjoy!

Delivering on Great Expectations

5/7/2022

Elaborate sets definitely create for the audience some great expectations. That being said, I have seen school productions done with elaborate sets and have still come away disappointed. The show just didn't deliver what was advertised. I have also gone to school shows with barely any sets and have been satisfyingly entertained. The sets, costumes, props and scenery cannot make up for the lack of well-prepared acting, singing, and dancing which is the result of good direction.

This week I attended a semi-professional production of "Camelot" done in a tiny theater with just a handful of actors, with barely any sets, and no scenic backdrop. Obviously, there was no build up of any great expectations there. However, I knew enough by reputation of this theater group to wonder just how they would do a show that usually depends on color and pageantry to pull off this grand Lerner and Lowe Musical. Well, they did it with inspired direction, fine acting, beautiful singing, and regal costuming --- okay, and a few props. But mostly, the audience members were invited to use their imaginations. What they did with so little was impressive!

In contrast, the elementary school show I attended this week had an incredible set that was in full view of the audience when they walked in. So, already, by just walking into the gym, my expectations were set pretty high. I had done a show at that school five years earlier. So, naturally, I felt some jealousy because, for that show, the school administration wouldn't even allow the stage to be cleared of all of the junk they had stored on it. We had to figure out how to work around all that stuff, create a "backstage" with drapes we hung ourselves, and deal with not having entrances onto the stage except from the front. And we barely had any budget whatsoever.

When the show started, though, I remembered how tragic the sound and lighting situation was. The air conditioning system on the ceiling of the gym was exceptionally noisy. The stage lighting only lit up the deep stage, nothing down front of the stage. (And half of their usable set was in front of the stage!) They somehow had gotten eight lavalier mics, but only a couple actually worked at the right times.

Anyway, where the kids sang well on the songs they did together in unison, there were unfortunate sound issues on the solos. So, as an audience member with no previous knowledge of the play, I really couldn't understand the words, and so I had trouble following the plot. Also, the kids did what most untrained school kids do on stage --- they turned their backs on the audience. Most of the time, we couldn't tell who was talking or singing and we definitely couldn't read their lips.

A far better return for their investment would have been to teach the kids to "cheat" out to the audience, be aware of "Proximity, Planes, and Levels," and use proper gesturing to pull focus when giving a line or singing. Maybe they could have utilized their stationary mic better through tasteful blocking.

It is sad that the audience members usually come not really expecting much. They stoically clap and bring flowers to their child performers to give them validation for their hard work. Wouldn't it be better to give these kids some actual training so they could give a polished performance?

My understanding is that this show was mounted purely by untrained volunteers. Too bad. The school should have hired at least one professional. Clearly there is available talent in the school population! With what the people in charge did with donations and volunteering from the school community to create the set this go around, by rights they should be able to do a top notched show in the future, one that can deliver on great expectations!

Blocking with the Audience in Mind

3/31/2022

Due to technical limitations, some schools find that they must do the Elementary School Musical the only way they can. They rely on a few lead characters and a handful of narrators. If they only have two stand up mics at the front of the stage, how could it be any different? The rest of the cast becomes the ensemble. That means they sing and dance, but don't play characters with featured parts. What a shame!

But it can be worse to try to do a Musical with many featured parts, but with no way for them to be heard because there are still just a few stationary mics on the stage. Even with some lavaliers on the main characters, the plot can still be lost for the audience. That's where well-planned blocking and staging comes in.

The most important aspect of directing Elementary School shows is to play to the hard-of-hearing grandparent who is likely to attend. Make every decision according to how that grandparent will be able to hear better or understand through movement and blocking to get the gist of the story. Gotta make it easy for them to "get it."

If there are only a couple of mics available, make sure the kid who is talking or singing is right next to one of them. Make sure their crosses to get to the mics make sense. Group the speakers so that they can easily and gracefully get to a mic before they speak, but have them at least try to "walk and talk" getting there. Project!! Use gestures!! Pull focus!!! Cheat out toward the audience!! (I am convinced that most people need to read lips, gestures, and body language to understand actors on stage.)

Here is an acting game that can help acclimatize the children to working on the stage. As they become comfortable, blocking will seem more natural and easier for the audience to follow.

"Freeze, Frame, Focus" is an acting game used to help young actors learn about Planes, Proximity, Levels, Focus, and creating a good stage Picture. Being aware on stage how close the actors are to each other (proximity), how they are arranged in depth on the stage (planes), how they fill the scene without blocking each other (levels), how they can help throw or pull attention on the pertinent action or character (focus), and how to keep balance on the stage (picture).

How to play: Have the children walk around on stage filling it to the edges. You may play music or give them direction to walk like a "robot," or "Lion," or some other character. When you call Freeze, they all quickly assess where they are on stage. Then you call someone's name as the Focus child.

Everyone else must make a good stage picture (Frame) focussing on that child. If they are standing tall in front, they should make themselves shorter and throw their arms out toward the Focus child. If they are small in back, they should stand as tall as they can and throw their arms toward the Focus child. All of the children should maintain good proximity so everyone can be seen. They should also watch their planes, not bunching up, but filling out the scene.

Opera or Singspiele?

3/25/2022

In Mozart's day, 1756-1791, "serious" opera in the Italian style was very popular, but some thought it needed reforming. Some people grew tired of it and thought that singing dialogue was very affected. In serious opera, scored music continued through the entire work including arias, duets, choruses, dances, as well as sung dialogue.

In Germany, a popular entertainment for the general public was singspiele, where the songs and dances were interspersed with spoken dialogue. The promoters of Italian Opera thought singspiele was an inferior type of entertainment, suitable for just the lower classes. Mozart was always on the lookout for fresh opportunities, and of course, his music gave the singspiele a boost. He wrote several singspiele for his audiences in Austria. One of the most popular was "The Magic Flute."

Singspiele led to Vienese Operetta which then led to Musical Comedy on Broadway. Most Musicals on Broadway follow in this tradition of having spoken dialogue interspersed between the musical numbers. However, some composers have created scores for shows that have sung dialogue and music underscoring throughout as in Opera.

Where the shows are done with up-to-date sound engineering and personal mics on each actor, these through-composed shows can be entertaining. Some popular shows in this pseudo-Operatic style are "Into the Woods" and "Once on This Island." These shows take mature voices and charismatic acting to punch through the music.

Many Junior High schools may want to produce one of these kinds of shows, but have trouble. I have seen too many productions where the audience could not follow the plot because of faulty directing and many sound malfunctions. When young actors try to sing quick-exchange dialogue against a pre-recorded track, they really need extra stage presence and developed voices as well as working mics. Besides, the audience has a hard time locating which actor is singing when they are all treble voices and don't have the stage presence to pull focus.

My hope is that directors of youthful actors will choose productions that suit their abilities and work within their limited technical production capabilities. Perhaps a more traditional show would work best instead of the hottest ticket on Broadway. Just think about it!

Priming the Audience

2/19/2022

Often people attending a show or concert are not aware of proper AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE. When to laugh, when to applaud, and when to be patient and quiet. I have seen entire paragraphs ing concert programs dedicated to how the audience should behave during an orchestra concert. The people who attend Children's Theater can benefit from learning good AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE as well.

Some of the most brutal audiences are those of Middle School students, especially if they are watching their peers trying to perform. They may think they are being encouraging to their classmates by laughing loudly, randomly applauding or calling out their names. But when they shout out during the performance, it only distracts the poor actors on stage. It disrupts their concentration and doesn't allow them to hear their music cues. Many of these student actors may be in their FIRST EVER PERFORMANCES. Their nerves are already at HIGH ANXIETY, and the heckling from the audience just makes them retreat into uncomfortable shyness. A Children's Musical is not a basketball game!

How to tackle this problem? Unfortunately, it takes patience and many tries. The Director may come out before the show to explain things. He may mention that in order to help the actors give a great show, they NEED TO BE A GOOD AUDIENCE. He may have them practice different kinds of laughing --- polite giggles, surprised delight, wholehearted guffaws. But he should always have the audience practice quick SILENCES so that the scene isn't disrupted. The same with applause --- there is a difference between sincere appreciation (the polite clapping between scenes) and insanely raucous clapping, whistling, and yelling at the Finale. A wise Director may have the audience practice appropriate STOPPING and momentary SILENCES explaining that this part of their job is very important to supporting the actors. (In a school setting, it may be wise to get the teachers to help prepare the student body before they see the show.)

It takes as much practice for an audience to learn ETIQUETTE as the actors do to learn acting skills and deportment. Many schools do not have the budget to afford all of the expensive sound and lighting equipment to properly run a show in a large auditorium. They may not have budget to get beautiful sets or costumes. They may have a student population that has never had access to doing arts of any kind -- no art or dance training or voice lessons. The kids and their parents may have never had any opportunities like this before and just don't know what it takes for their kids to be involved or how long it takes to put on a show.

Though it's true that a good show can be achieved on a modest budget, it has no hope of success if it is sabotaged by a rude audience. AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE is key to helping pull off an entertaining Children's Theater show!

Adapting Material for FlexCasting

2/15/2022

Each summer I try to schedule my Theater Camp in June because the weather is usually pretty nice. Then I find out that other programs are already scheduled for those dates and that would affect many of my loyal families. So, we scramble to figure out other dates. I find I'm always trying to be FLEXIBLE.

That's a lot like adapting a play for the specific needs of your cast. Children are always growing up and moving on, and younger children eagerly appear wanting a chance. Being a director of Children's Theater is a lot like gambling. You cannot know how the dice will roll. You can only guess at how to cast the show because many of the young children don't even know how to show you what talents they posses. Many talents develop right before your very eyes.

So, you need to be FLEXIBLE. It's best to use material that has built in ways to adapt it to fit the needs of the children. Lead characters who can be either male or female, old or young, tall or short, etc. Secondary comedic characters who are well-drawn already, but leave room for improvisation to make them more memorable. Lots of singing and dancing that can involve everybody equally (regardless of ability). Also, the possibility of completely eliminating characters that you just may not have enough actors to fill.

I like owning all of the rights to a show. That way, if I need to completely rewrite the script, add another character or group of characters, give them a new song, etc., I can.

Once I went home from rehearsal the first day realizing we needed a new song. My music leader suggested a new Opener to bring on the cast. So, in a flash of inspiration, "Over Yonder" became the opening production number to "Stone Soup."

When we did "A Successor to the Throne" at an Elementary School (4-6th graders), a group of talented older girls needed bigger parts. So, they got a revamped scene and a reworked song, "Autumn Lingers on the Breeze."

Because we had a very talented singer in the cast for "Momotaro" and the character she needed to be didn't have a song, I went home and quickly wrote one for her. "Hero" actually became a nice theme song for that show.

Then, just last summer, the Fox in "The Tale of Chicken Licken" needed a beefed up part and a new song, "You Oughta Keep and Open Mind."

Who knows what will be needed for this summer's Theater Camp?

Audience Appeal

2/8/2022

Writers are often told to "write to your audience." As a writer, the hardest part of the job is figuring out who that audience might be. Writing for "Children's Theater" can be misleading. Some theatrical pieces are written to be performed by adults for an audience of children (ages may vary). Some pieces are written for child actors to be performed for parents and grandparents. Other pieces are to be performed by children for other children. (Theater for teen-aged actors is still considered Children's Theater even though sometimes they can handle adult material.) No matter what the piece, the projected AUDIENCE makes a big difference.

In my career of producing Children's Theater, I have worked in all of these arenas. The professional and community theater companies I have worked for usually only liked doing productions using kids from ages 12-17. The kids can read, study on their own, have already been developing their talents, and can usually produce a polished performance worthy of presenting to a "distinguishing" audience. And yet, a large proportion of young children ages 5-11 would like to participate. Let's face it, many people are not delighted by watching young children doing "the best they can, bless their hearts."

Picking an appropriate show is always difficult. The director must take into consideration the type of story and how it will appeal to both the actors and the audience. Young children love colorful, fanciful stories, many that are based on famous children's literature. Older kids may be interested in broader and sometimes darker subject matter. For a community or professional company, careful attention must be paid to what type of production will draw in a crowd. They have to think about profit. Schools may have different criteria, and may pick more age appropriate pieces geared to their student population.

I began writing shows for that younger, underserved population many years ago. The children ages 5-12 seem to have fewer good pieces geared specifically for them. It has been a joy to develop shows that have broad appeal, engage the children, and play well to an audience of more than just parents and grandparents. Some of the most fun to produce for this age range have been "The Tale of Chicken Licken," "Momotaro," "The Adventures of Dick Whittington," and "The Country Mouse and the City Mouse."

It's always fun to share comments from audience members:

"I just loved the songs and dances in "The Tale of Chicken Licken."  The show was so professional. The costumes were adorable. Loved the Bluebirds 1940's hairdo's.  We could understand every word! It was such a fun show!"

"My husband's parents have gone to many a grandchild's performances, but they told me that "Momotaro" was so much better than anything they had ever seen their grandkids in -- BY FAR! It was a 1/2 hour performance that just flew by! Thanks again for such a wonderful experience for our children."

"We have been to so many children's theater shows and usually we don't expect much. The acting is never very good and the songs are usually pretty dumb. But the music in this show ("The Adventures of Dick Whittington") was great! The songs were so catchy, we had no trouble trying to sing along when cued. We enjoyed how professional the production was. Our kids were thrilled to be a part of it. Looking forward to next summer."

"The Country Mouse and the City Mouse" show was so fun! I loved how there were meaningful parts for so many kids and everyone was busy for the entire show. No one could tell if there was a main starring role because there were so many featured parts. We loved the songs, too! They could have been straight out of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast."