Gemini Children’s Theater has the perfect solution to introduce the kiddos to both live theatre and the Wizard of Oz. Their production, with an original musical adaptation for children by company founders Dennis Palko and Lani Cataldi, captures Dorothy’s (Savanah Bruno) adventure in a preschooler-friendly style.
5 comments:
I am not the biggest fan of children, but what children’s theaters do to keep children invested in the shows and find ways to entertain them while also getting a message across is really hard. I don’t enjoy watching overacting at all, but for children that’s almost a necessity because they need the excessivity to be captivated by what is happening on the stage. When I was 8, I was in a production of the Lion King, and that kind of altered the way that I view theater forever, and so it’s inspiring to hear that more shows are happening that incorporates the children in the audience so that they can become a part of the experience. Personally, I enjoy The Wizard of Oz, when it has a darker twist and really incorporates more of the tornado, and scary aspects of being stuck in the middle of nowhere. Obviously that is not the appeal that Children’s theater like to have.
I simultaneously like and don’t like this idea. On one hand, I think it’s interesting that the Children’s theater want to cater to an even younger audience. This might facilitate young children’s desire to join a dance class after seeing dancing on stage, especially young boys, and it might encourage more kids to become interested in singing from a younger age. On the flip side, however, I don’t really like the way the show was rewritten to accommodate young kids. At my high school, we had travelling children’s shows like Flat Stanley and Seussical, Jr. come and do one show for our elementary schools in our district. The kids were ages 5-10, and they responded very well to the shows and were always entranced. I think 2-4 year old children just don’t need to be getting into theater just yet. I think it is misleading for a pre-school kid to see theater at this company in this interactive, immersive way (similar to children’s TV shows where the characters ask the viewers questions) and then go to elementary school in a year or so and see theater how it really is. Children’s shows already exist for this purpose, I think this is goes a little too far, but I like the gesture.
I feel like this is certainly a push when it comes to children's theater. Some may call me a traditionalist but I think that in order to properly teach theater you have to do it an old fashioned bare bones way. I've worked at a theater company that has in fact done the Wizard of Oz, it still had spectacle and it still was well done. To engage children in theater you have to first and foremost engage them in the process of acting, attending rehearsals, and attending a tech week before just the art itself. Children's theater goes so much farther than just teaching the art itself, it's certainly about the discipline that happens when a child is a part of a production, they gain important lessons in patience and tolerance when that happens. I really do hope that this production of Wizard of Oz works, because any exposure to theater would be a good thing for children, but if it were up to me I'd do it the classic way.
I believe strongly in the importance of Children's theater. It really is a great way to generate interest in the theater in future generations. I remember when I was twelve years old and helped make sets for a small puppet theater production of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and now here we are. In addition the tale of the Wizard of Oz is a great one that really encapsulates a lot of the things that make theater great( and it opens the door to see Wicked a few years down the road!). Anyways, this seems like a great production, and I hope more like it keep coming. We need more Children's theater to keep the industry and art form going into the future from the ground up. Hopefully this show does well, and inspires some future theater artists who can keep the tradition going. Good Luck Wizard of Oz! I'm sure you'll do great.
I love the first paragraph of this article, mostly because I completely disagree. It was funny because before I read this article I said out loud, “the wizard of Oz should not be done kids. It’s too hard to design for. You travel to like 14 places in one show.” But as I read the rest of the article I was awwed by this concept of introducing children to theatre. Never working with small children myself, I can only imagine the nightmare it must be to half to herd them for long periods of time. This sounds a really fun and effective way to engage youngsters while also doing theater. I didn’t discover theatre until middle school, and only really knew I wanted to do theatre by the begging of high school. Even though I am doing pretty good in my theatre career, I still feel like if I was exposed to theatre earlier I would be further alone.
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