theatre for kids

I’m continuing my series about the upcoming stage musical The Great American Mousical today with a look at the book the musical is based on, and how much one can learn about theatre simply by reading (and re-reading!) the book by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton, also entitled The Great American Mousical. As Julie said in my interview with her and Emma last week, “We wrote the book as an affectionate tribute to the world we know and love – but we also hoped to provide young readers with some incidental arts appreciation.” I think they did a very good job of both. The Great American Mousical is a middle grade novel published by HarperCollins in 2006 as part of the Julie Andrews Collection of books that seek to instill the JAC tenets of “Words, Wisdom, Wonder” in young readers. It is about a troupe of theatre mice who work in a miniature theatre in the depths of the basement below a Broadway theatre, the Sovereign. The mice are readying themselves for their annual benefit revue to be staged on New Year’s Eve when calamity strikes — they learn that the Sovereign is under threat of demolition. Then the star of the show, the diva Adelaide, goes missing! The show goes on, as shows must — but much has to happen before a happy ending can be possible. Let’s take a look at what I’ve dubbed the “Mousical Master Class in Theatre Basics” — click the magic words…