Once Upon A Musical! (The OUAT Musical Episode Fans Have Been Wishing For Airs This Weekend)

It's a fairytale wedding in true Disney style: magic, mayhem and many songs. (And dancing!)

This coming weekend, the whole cast of the Enchanted Forest of ABC's Once Upon A Time breaks into song for their musical episode, titled 'The Song In Your Heart'.

So how does this happen? Someone makes a wish, of course. (Or is it a curse? We'll have to wait and find out!)

In flashback, Snow and Charming make a special wish that Emma will be protected. The result of their wish has the whole kingdom bursting into song which infuriates the Evil Queen. ... (The) wish to help save their family from her. "I wish we have magic to keep them all stay happy," (Snow) wishes. (In the promo the Evil Queen can be heard lamenting) "They cast a spell so everyone breaks into song."  

Meanwhile in Storybrooke, the Black Fairy announces her plans to unleash another curse on the town while Emma and Hook prepare for their wedding, on "Once Upon a Time". (aceshowbiz)

Here's the promotional trailer to get a taste of all the singing and dancing to come:

Many of the cast apparently have musical theater backgrounds and all are reported as saying they love musical theater so were keen to do an episode as a 'fairytale musical'.

It seems the idea appealed, not only to fans but to the Disney legacy this show has continued and paid homage to ever since it began. The creators clearly have a typical idea of what a fairy tale is: magic, sparkles, happy endings, villains and heroes and also, as it turns out, musicals as being a 'natural fit' with fairy tales. It's definitely a Disney-driven POV on fairy tales, but being an American production, and with Disney as ABC's parent company, that makes complete sense. Staying close to this popular idea of fairy tales, and playing with the tropes, is what keeps fans coming back - they get their 'grown-up Disney fairy tale', and a little more too. Clearly, the tactic works!

The US used to be known as 'the land of the musical', the place where you could walk down the street and not be surprised to find yourself in the middle of a spontaneous musical number, and Disney's fairy tales haven't ever been without songs, so it's inevitable OUAT would delve into this territory, though perhaps using more originality than fans might have expected.

Although at least one cast member assumed that if this day came, Once Upon a Time would recycle famous Disney tunes, that was never the plan. Instead, series creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis last summer sat down with songwriters (and Once fans) Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner to hash out the grand plan, which would lead to seven original tunes being penned. “After we let the cast know [about the musical episode],” says Horowitz, “they got together with the composers, to tailor all the songs to each actor and their character specifically.” (TVline)

Right now, by employing a little 'google-fu', you can hear snippets of some of the songs and Oh My Disney released most of the Evil Queen's 'rock song' 'Love Doesn't Stand A Chance', (we'll let you track those down if you're keen) which has some nice touches, such as her observation of other inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest singing happily in their homes (and stories), and there are definitely Disney homages in the lyrics, the set-ups, some of the phrases and other places to find - always great for fans (and drinking games!).

No doubt there will be many Easter eggs and call backs to earlier OUAT moments, throughout the episode, so this is expected to be a real treat for Oncers in particular.

There will be eight songs whose titles might be considered somewhat spoiler-y, so consider yourself warned before reading the list in the blue box to the right. (Click to enlarge for reading.)

As a bonus, you can see an extended featurette in which the cast and crew talk about preparing for the episode - how it came about, how they prepared and what it was like to approach Once Upon A Time from this perspective, HERE. From all reports, the cast had a lot of fun, so chances are high this will be enjoyable to watch too.

Musicals are definitely in vogue right now, so the timing for this double whammy (wedding + musical) is perfect for the show and should very much boost its recently lagging ratings. While we don't expect it will have the wit and musical dexterity of Galavant, we're sure there will be memorable moments.

The Once Upon A Time musical episode airs on May 7th at 8/7c, on ABC.

British May Day Scarecrow Festival Gets 'Trumped' With Twists on Fairy Tales

Photography by David Billinge

Anyone else notice that fairy tales are being used less as a description for the ideal/unrealistic romantic adventure and happily ever after, and more as a statement in calling out the truth in a situation these days?

It's safe to say that the last year has been tumultuous on the political front. While many countries struggle with this all the time, the UK and US in particular have been floored by the turn of events of the past many months and a lot of people's world view has had to change.

May Day, and associated festivals, are all about renewal, Spring, growth, new beginnings and what seems to be a relatively new 'scarecrow festival' in Britain seems to have caught on as part of the celebrations. Scarecrows protecting the newly seeded fields, Jack in the Green - these have a long standing tradition in celebration and folklore this time of year but the specific scarecrow festival, while clearly in tune with tradition is apparently fairly new. That hasn't stopped it from becoming a much-enjoyed annual event all around the UK.

For the past couple of years fairy tales and nursery rhymes have been associated with the festival by being the theme for people to riff on with their creations. This year, the traditional tales theme in the small English village of Wray, took a turn into political commentary, using fairy tales to make their very clear points with a variety of Donald Trump effigies. (All the more interesting when a number of these scarecrows move thanks to a little animatronic magic!)

At least six contestants created versions of Trump to fit in with children's stories, including a 'Pinocchi-Trump' with an extra-long nose and a 'Humpty-Trumpty' falling off his own border wall. 

...Another was Pinocchi-Trump, created by Judith Smith and her husband Ken Wilson. 

This tableau was inspired by 'fake news' and combines the 'traditional tales' theme of Pinocchio with the US president. (Daily Mail)

While Humpty-Trumpty and President Pinocchio were popular notions, another scarecrow display had a Trump figureup a beanstalk, with a Mexican man at the bottom. The sign said:

"You're welcome Jack, to climb the stalk,
but when your' up we need to talk.
There's a guy up there who's sure to SEIZE YA,
if you don't possess a VISA."

A Rumpelstiltskin effigy had the Trumpish figure 'spinning straw into something else!"

Although scarecrows and straw effigies have a long history in being associated with political figures - and protest against them - it was a little unexpected to see so many making statements on Trump in this manner, especially outside the US. On May Day this year the US had its own day of political statements, in the form of wide spread protests and marches against the immigration policies of President Trump, making this the second year there has been direct protest against his policies on this day. Both years there have been effigies too.

Members of the "Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition" displayed a giant effigy of then-candidate Donald Trump on May Day in Los Angeles last year. (NPR)

Other scarecrows focused on traditional fairy tales and legends, such as Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood, but with so many blonde-wigged effigies around it becomes difficult to see even these tales without a political spin. Is that wolf looking a little blonde, dressed in Grandma's nightie? Are Robin Hood's promises really in aid of the common people?

Interesting to see how many folks used the simple language and motifs of fairy tales, to make some contemporary, relevant and head-turning statements. Here's a quick video tour of Wray village on May Day.

#folklorethursday

Prof. Roberta Trites Receives International Brothers Grimm Award

Sleeping Beauty by Walter Crane

Press Release (emphasis in bold is ours):

Illinois State University’s Distinguished Professor Roberta Seelinger Trites is the recipient of the 16th International Brothers Grimm Award by the International Institute for Children’s Literature, Osaka, Japan. 

Trites served as the president of the Children’s Literature Association in 2006 and 2007, and as editor of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly from 2000 to 2004. She worked to shift the association’s focus from a primarily North American view to a more international perspective and to enhance its academic rigor. Her direction of 22 Ph.D. students, including students from India, Jordan, Nepal, Tanzania, and Taiwan, provides testimony to her outstanding expertise and international contributions to the field of children’s literature. 

Professor Roberta S. Trites

...Trites’ work includes Waking Sleeping Beauty: Feminist Voices in Children’s Novels. The International Institute of Children’s Literature describes Trites’ books as ground-breaking in their theoretical approaches to adolescent literature, feminist studies, historical and cultural literary studies.” 

Professor Trites is the third citizen of the U.S. upon which this honor has been bestowed. She has been short-listed for the award several times before and is now being accorded fitting recognition as its 16th recipient. The award was established in 1986 to honor the Brothers Grimm’s centenary and is sponsored by the Kinran-kai Foundation of Osaka.

More information on Professor Trites can be found in the full press release HERE.

Here's the synopsis of Waking Sleeping Beauty. Please note - there have been opposing responses to Prof. Trites' book - some labeling it 'wonderfully feminist' while others call it out as being beholden to patriarchal ideals, with the sentiments included being 'dangerous for young girls today'. We have no copy ourselves and cannot comment, other than to make potential readers aware of the differences in critical response.

Waking Sleeping Beauty

Feminist Voices in Children's Novels

Roberta S. Trites

Publication Year: 1997

The Sleeping Beauty in Roberta Seelinger Trites' intriguing text is no silent snoozer passively waiting for Prince Charming to energize her life. Instead she wakes up all by herself and sets out to redefine the meaning of “happily ever after.” Trites investigates the many ways that Sleeping Beauty's newfound voice has joined other strong female voices in feminist children's novels to generate equal potentials for all children.

Waking Sleeping Beauty explores issues of voice in a wide range of children's novels, including books by Virginia Hamilton, Patricia MacLachlan, and Cynthia Voight as well as many multicultural and international books. Far from being a limiting genre that praises females at the expense of males, the feminist children's novel seeks to communicate an inclusive vision of politics, gender, age, race, and class. By revising former stereotypes of children's literature and replacing them with more complete images of females in children's books, Trites encourages those involved with children's literature—teachers, students, writers, publishers, critics, librarian, booksellers, and parents—to be aware of the myriad possibilities of feminist expression.

Roberta Trites focuses on the positive aspects of feminism: on the ways females interact through family and community relationships, on the ways females have revised patriarchal images, and on the ways female writers use fictional constructs to transmit their ideologies to readers. She thus provides a framework that allows everyone who enters a classroom with a children's book in hand to recognize and communicate—with an optimistic, reality-based sense of “happily ever after”—the politics and the potential of that book.

We've listed the chapter titles for your reference below, and you can find out more - as well as download PDFs of the chapters - HERE:
1. Defining the Feminist Children's Novel
2. Subverting Stereotypes: Rejecting Traditional Gender Roles
3. Subjectivity as a Gender Issue: Metaphors and Intertextuality
4. Transforming Feminine Silence: Pro/claiming Female Voices
5. Re/constructing the Female Writer: Subjectivity in the Feminist Künstlerroman
6. Female Interdependency: Literal and Metaphoric Sisterhood
7. Refuting Freud: Mother/Daughter Relationships
8. Metafiction and the Politics of Identity: Narrativity, Subjectivity, and Community
9. Afterword: Feminist Pedagogy and Children's Literature

'Gnaw' Is A Hansel & Gretel With A Dark Twist

Gnaw, a gruesome reimagining of Hansel and Gretel, focuses on one family’s struggle to survive as a famine ravages the country and a witch haunts the nearby woods.

Yes - we agree: Hansel and Gretel is already pretty dark, but in Sean Meldrum's Gnaw, it gets even darker. By all accounts, this play certainly fits into the horror genre, or at least psychological horror. The stepmother/witch character can only be described as terrifying.

Brave secondary school, A.N. Meyer, (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), staged a production of Gnaw last weekend and blew audiences, and peers, away. And, boy do we wish we could have seen it for ourselves! Youth theater has the potential to be brutally honest and emotional and it sounds like all involved achieved precisely that. Congratulations A.N. Meyer!

Unfortunately, there aren't many images of the A.N. Meyer's production so, apart from the two above, this poster we pulled from the school website and the announcement below from the Arts section of the school newsletter, we've included images from Sean Meldrum's first showing (posters etc) and four at the end of the post from the original production, to give you an idea of what it's like.

Here are excerpts from some of the Cappies peer reviews (ie. secondary school reviewers, training in theater arts criticism and journalism, all of whom did excellent work! Credits and the school the reviewer attends are listed at the end of the extract):

We all know the classic story of Hansel and Gretel — or do we? In this sinister retelling, A.N. Myer presents a version in which happily ever after is never found.In a village struck by famine, Hansel and Gretel live with their harsh parents in a house devastated by poverty. Their father, Bullpig, is the leader of a mysterious pack that ravages refugees to find sustenance. When he goes on a trip from which he might not return, desperation hangs heavy above the family, their main source of meals gone. Left with their dauntingly severe mother, the lengths they take to find food are rivetingly depicted. As tensions mount, the fine line between reality and fiction comes into question.  

Overall, A.N. Myer’s recent production of Gnaw was a thrilling performance that showcased the witches living within us all. (Grace Dobbie - Greater Fort Erie Secondary School)

A.N. Myer’s thrillingly morbid production of Gnaw is not for the weak of heart, nor the weak of stomach. This “fractured fairytale” turned beliefs of right and wrong entirely upside-down in a series of horrifying twists. Raw, powerful acting coupled with unique elements such as live sound effects and shadow puppetry made for an utterly chilling experience.
Gnaw was written by Queen’s student Sean Meldrum for the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was described as “raw and unapologetic” (Queen’s Review Journal). It tells a dark, reimagined version of Hansel and Gretel. Their family is desperately attempting to stay alive in the midst of a devastating famine, and rumours begin to swirl of a witch that haunts the nearby forest. The audience follows the family’s story, and learns the gruesome lengths to which each family member will go to survive. (Michaela Bax-Leaney - Eden High School)

Sounds chilling, doesn't it?

And we can only find two quotes from the screenplay, but combined, they give the chills all by themselves:

 "Violence, my children, is a snake that is eating itself."

and then, simply:

"You must be hungry."

               
We're guessing no audience member - or participant - will forget Meldrum's Hansel & Gretel any time soon!

#RemindsUsOfTheDonnerParty

Article Series: Why Do Theaters Tend To Dumb Down Fairy Tales?

Julie Taymor's The Magic Flute

Why DO theaters tend to go 'kiddie' in adapting fairy tales? Why the insistence on political correctness and happy endings for every one? Even the bad guys?

Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

Fairy tale friend Cindy Marie Jenkins, who writes for The Clyde Fitch Report ("the nexus of Art and Politics"), is currently doing an in depth article series, posted monthly, over the period of a year, investigating and discussing how we can make better, smarter theater for young audiences, or, as a theatrical colleague said: "We want to do children's theater that doesn't suck!"

Theater Rudolstadt's Pinocchio

In her introductory article, Cindy mentions:

Since the only “kids” show I remember seeing as a child was A.R.T.’s production of The King Stag, with puppets by Julie Taymor, it’s hard for me to stomach anything that dumbs down story for children. They are much more intelligent than most TYA (Theater for Young Audiences) gives them credit for being.

BalletLORENT's Rapunzel

We agree. Kids theater in general tends toward 'safe', but fairy tale theater tends to take that to the extreme, crossing the line from 'safe' into downright saccharine. But why? It certainly doesn't need to. Why is this the trend? What is it about children's theater, and even more so, fairy tales, that causes productions to develop in this direction?

Imago Theater's La Belle: Lost in the World of the Automaton (Beauty & the Beast)

Our Fairy Tale News Hound originally came from a working theater background of many years and has quite a few thoughts on the subject. Fortuitously, she was asked to be interviewed to discuss the issues with adapting fairy tales in particular, and with the introduction up and the investigation well underway, we thought it was high time to share so you can follow along if you're interested too.

You can find the introduction, 

Why Do Theaters Dumb Down TYA?

HERE.

The second installment, which our Fairy Tale News Hound had the opportunity to chime in on, along with Debbie Devine, the director of 24th Street's recommended production Hansel and Gretel: Bluegrass, is titled:

Why TYA Should Join the Dark Side (of Fairy Tales)

which you can find HERE.

To bookmark the series you can click on the screenshot image above, or go HERE, searching with the tag Talking TYA.

Note: All images shown here are from recommended productions, that is, "not sucky" fairy tale theater, to which you can take confidently take young folk to enjoy and experience quality shows and performances.

24th Street Theater's Hansel and Gretel: Bluegrass

Happy Mother Goose Day! (May 1st)

Mother Goose, art for a Fisk Tires ad by Maxfield Parrish, 1919

National Mother Goose Day is observed each year on May 1.  This day honors Mother Goose, the imaginary author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes we loved as children.  Mother Goose is often illustrated as an elderly country woman in a tall hat and shawl, but she is also sometimes depicted as a goose wearing a bonnet.  (From NationalDayCalendar.com)

Mother Goose Day was founded in 1987 by Gloria T. Delamar in tandem with the publication of her book, Mother Goose; From Nursery to Literature.

In honor of today, we thought we'd share some of the illustrations from a lesser known book by L. Frank Baum, Mother Goose in Prose. Here's the blurb from the original dust jacket:

If ever a writer and an artist were an unbeatable team, it's on these pages. Put that team to work on the most famous characters in the English language and the result can be nothing less than classic. 

Here two giant imaginations take on Little Boy Blue, The Cat and the Fiddle, Old King Cole, Mistress Mary, Jack Horner, The Man in the Moon, Hickory Dickory Dock, Bo-Peep, Tommy Tucker, Humpty Dumpty, The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Miss Muffet and others. 

To create Mother Goose in Prose, the man who gave us The Wonderful Wizard of Oz started with the bare bones of the celebrated nursery rhymes and embroidered them as only a master storyteller could. Now Mary Quite Contrary lives in a real house, has a mother and is visited in her garden by a Squire. Humpty Dumpty is far from just a five line verse here and, once read, his will never be a five lines story again. Did you ever wonder how the old woman's house for to resemble a shoe? In case the reader doesn't get the picture, Baum departs from his storytelling to draw it himself. 

This is a charming book, with a warm introduction by Baum, who takes care to trace the vague but fascinating history of the rhymes back to 1650, through the three countries that claim Mother Goose for their own. But "the songs that cluster around her name are what we love." he reminds us. "Many of these nursery rhymes," Baum says, "are complete tales in themselves, telling their story tersely but completely; there are others which are but bare suggestions, leaving the imagination to weave in the details of the story. Perhaps therein may lie part of their charm, but however that may be I have thought the children might like the stories told at a greater length, that they may dwell the longer upon their favorite heroes and heroines. 

"For that reason I have written this book."

You can read the book online HERE.

And from Amazon:

The volume begins with an historical overview written by Baum himself, in which he notes that the first use of the name "Mother Goose" was by the great French author of fantasies, Charles Perrault -- the inventor of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Puss in Boots. Each tale begins with the nursery rhyme, and then a tale that illustrates the rhyme follows -- told in Baum's charming, natural fashion. Mother Goose in Prose is a delight for children of all ages. The book's last selection features a girl named Dorothy who can talk to animals — an anticipation of the Oz books. When Baum later included this story in his Juvenile Speaker (1910) and The Snuggle Tales (1916–17), he changed the girl's name to Doris, to avoid confusing her with Dorothy Gale. 

           

Lots of Treasures in Enchanted Conversation's Diamonds & Toads Issue

Toads & Diamonds Ex Libris Etching
by Ukraine artist Konstantin Kalinovich

Enchanted Conversation, Fairy Tale Magazine, has just released their Diamonds and Toads Issue - and it's wonderful!

New contributing editor, Amanda Bergloff, has created some unique digital art for each of the stories and poems in this issue, making the chosen entries even more fun to read.

Although Kate Wolford, always curates wonderful writing, we've particularly enjoyed this issue's creative short stories and evocative poems. While we acknowledge that we might be influenced due to this fairy tale being one of our favorites, and that we got uninterrupted time to read the whole issue in one lovely sitting with some fabulous tea to go with it, we maintain it's a great issue with lots of lovely writing, well worth your time to peruse.

You can find the 'entry' and Table Of Contents to this current issue HERE.

And, if you're interested, Gypsy wrote a personal entry, reflecting on retellings of this fairy tale, at Fairy Tale Footnotes HERE.

Dance Theater: Grimm Brothers Get Transported To Age of Social Media To Save Their Literary Legacy in 'Tales of Grimm'

Contemporary parables are woven together with tales of the Brothers Grimm

This unique twist on Grimm’s Fairy Tales places these literary brothers of the 1800s smack into the middle of modern day society. Perplexed by the antics of our 21st century lifestyle, the brothers’ vivid and iconic text literally dances off the page to pull inhabitants of our screen-obsessed, social-media age back into the world of books—and into the stories they thought they knew so well…

When you hear about 'tales of Grimm' you don' usually expect the brothers to make an appearance, let alone watch them in their tale telling and editing. The beauty of this concept shows exactly why and how fairy tales still have something to say.

This production sounds very unique, and if we were local, we'd definitely make time to go see this! Everything we've read about the character and concept development sounds interesting and well thought out - both as an homage to the work of the Grimms in their time (it was much more complex than collecting a bunch of tales and publishing them!), and showing how fairy tales are still as relevant today as they ever were - even taking into account people's obsession with selfies... The production, choreography and dancing too, are getting good critical reviews.

Here's the concept, from toledocitypaper:

Broken into vignettes, each classic tale has been contemporized to cope with modern issues and connected through a fun fourth wall-breaking narrative that invokes an awareness of the audience. The characters themselves emerge from the stories to exist in the real world. And at the forefront of the modern issues being faced is this sort of disconnect between society and another endangered classic art: books. “In a haste to not lose this idea of books, [the Grimm Brothers] rush back to this huge book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that they have, and they start to rewrite all their stories to fit modern society,” (Director Michael) Lang explained, showing off a few of the props for the forthcoming performance. 

Included in the mix was an ornate gazebo, strung up with braided locks of rope, representing Rapunzel actress Semira Warrick’s lengthy hair and a conference table that will serve as the set piece for Rumpelstiltskin’s impassioned performance. “There’s a very percussive number, and he just pounds away at the table,” said Lang of Rumpelstiltskin actor Phillipe Taylor. “When I read Rumpelstiltskin, I thought, ‘You can say what you want about Rumpelstiltskin, but he did do the work.’”

“This show is such a twist on these tales and will not be what anyone is expecting,” Lang said. “The retold stories have a unique connection to the originals, and yet, are profoundly relative and anchored in today.”  (this last quote from The Blade)

The Toledo Ballet calls this piece more 'dance theater', which implies it's more theatrical in terms of presentation and story, as opposed to pure dance, and there's certainly a lot to be communicated in this one. On their Facebook page, for teaser purposes, the company posted a picture representing a section or character of the ballet, along with a neat summary.

We really like how they looked at different aspects of the fairy tales and found the human and still relevant thread in them, to explore. How the Grimm brothers, navigating modern society for the first time, help do this, is to be revealed and part of the fun.

Oh - and you might be surprised at some of the tale inclusions as well... Kudos to the director and writers who chose to boldly include How Some Children Played At Slaughtering, along with nods to other lesser known Grimm tales.

Take a look at some of the teasers below:

Opening the Book - As our book opens, the Brothers Grimm are mysteriously transported to an altered world of obliviousness and folly. While navigating through this unfamiliar sea of electronic glow, they struggle to find purpose and anxiously watch their literary “ship” sail off in the distance. Determined to save it, they revisit their tales and laboriously search for compromise.Little Red Cap - In an electronically obsessed world where all are accessible to many, our Modern-Day Red is warned to stay on the path. Ignoring parental admonitions, she quickly discovers that one can never be certain who the predators are or where they await!

Briar Rose - Bearing witness to the malice of his daughter’s childhood journey, a father’s love and desperate desire to protect provokes him to close her eyes from uncertainty, heartache, and pain. In time, he recognizes that by obsessively closing her eyes from the world she ends up with no world at all!


“Hansel” & Gretel - Overwhelmed by the endless tasks of motherhood, and frustrated by her sluggish husband, “Hansel” & Gretel’s modern-day mom fantasizes of taking her young offspring deep into the woods … and leaving them there! Her dream of freedom and self-indulgence is suddenly interrupted by Gretel’s cry for rescue from a tyrant old teacher. Her maternal instincts quickly remind her that, in reality, she would assiduously fight any battle for the family she loves.

Rapunzel - From the expectations constructed by society’s “tower”, Modern-day Rapunzel contemplates her “braids” of doubt, fear, guilt, and hope. Releasing the grips of entanglement, she reflects and ponders upon her place in a world yet to come.

How Some Children Played at Slaughtering - Each generation cries, “The world has gone mad,” though a journey through history reveals a far more reprehensible past! Exposed to a constant barrage of violence, our unattended children create a “game” of their own.

Rumpelstiltskin - Discouraged by nepotism and a bias environment, our modern-day Rumpel strives for a beat of his own. He industriously follows the rules of his daily grind until a bombardment of injustice forces him to his breaking point.

The Little Glowing Hand - Torn from the pages of her literary existence, Storybook Red struggles to make out her peculiar new surrounds. Her curiosities are intrigued by the illumined hands that appear to guide the bizarre ways of her unacquainted peers. Feeling scared and alone she studies a Modern-Day Teen in search of familiarity, understanding, and home.

The Displacement of Red - Feeling anxious and muddled, Storybook Red endures her bewildering journey. Alarmed by the tatters of her rapidly fading pages, she clings to the mast of her fairy-tale “ship”. She discovers the book that may provide resolution; but her efforts are blocked by her uneasy source. 

It's billed as a family friendly production and the company has had some wonderful promos during April at the Toldeo Lucas County Public Library. Check out some of those pics below:


As you may have gathered from the summaries above, however, this production, while being family friendly is not 'kiddie' - something some colleagues of ours have been discussing recently: quality theater for young audiences. Parents in particular may want the heads-up that the production doesn't shy away from some pretty harsh realities: bullying, oppression, murder and even genocide are all alluded to at least, if not represented, but then, if you will recall, it's in the Grimm texts as well. It all depends on how these are handled. We haven't seen this ourselves to be able to assess how all these issues are portrayed, but between the promos and this lively 9 minute interview you can listen to online  HERE that talks about this exact issue of bringing children to the show, hopefully you can make a good assessment for any children you're wanting to take. (Note: the link worked at the time of posting but we don't know how long it will be available to listen to.) Here's what the director Michael Lang said to the Toledo City Paper:

... while Tales of Grimm is ultimately a family-friendly performance, the stories contained within hew closely to the original tales put forth by the occasionally macabre Grimm Bros. These aren’t the Disneyfied translations one might otherwise expect from the former dancer-turned-director who was one of the original cast members of Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. “I don’t save [Red Riding Hood] in the end. I feel like with this message, it needs to be a message. This doesn’t always end well. I’ve got a lot of lighthearted moments as well, but there are a lot of moments that make people sit back and go, ‘Oh wow.’”

“I’m on this kind of quest, and I think that’s why the theme of this show has turned out like it has, to get people to put their phones down for a little bit and get back to theater and art,” said (Director Michael) Lang. “ Dance is always a tough sell, but this is for everybody, not just the people that love ballet.” 

You only have tonight and tomorrow to go catch this show! Quick! Go grab a ticket! (And then tell us all about it, would you?)