September 28, 1999
LAWRENCE - The University of Kansas Theatre for Young People, the University Theatre, and Lawrence's Seem-To-Be Players are teaming up to take theatre-goers on a delightful and nostalgic trip back to the 1970's schoolhouse of Saturday morning television fame. "Schoolhouse Rock Live!," a musical by Scott Ferguson, Kyle Hall and George Keating, will be staged at 8 p.m. Oct. 8, 9, 15, 16, 21, 22, and 23, and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall.
The production, which kicks off the University Theatre's 1999-2000 season, is being directed by KU theatre alumnus Ric Averill, who founded and continues to direct the Seem-To-Be Players, a 27-year-old professional theatre company. Musical direction is by Shane Scheel, also a KU alumnus and former managing director for the Seem-To-Be Players, who believes he learned most of what he knows "from watching the original 'Schoolhouse Rock' cartoons." Choreography is by Marianne Kubik, assistant professor of theatre and film and the newest addition to the KU theatre faculty.
"Schoolhouse Rock Live!" grew out of the animated educational videos seen on ABC-TV between cartoons on Saturday mornings from 1973 to 1985. The classic sketches dealt with "everything from the multiplication tables to the history of the women's suffrage movement," Averill said.
"The original 'Schoolhouse Rock' shorts were for little kids what music videos are for teens. They were like cartoon music videos, imitating the style of music videos. It was funky stuff and kids grew up on these clips; they were snagged by it."
Nostalgia for the cartoon blips led the creators to turn the series into a very successful musical revue with a small frame story about teacher and his students and the search for inspiration in learning, he added.
In the stage version, a first-year teacher, Tom, faces his first day of school worried that his students won't want to learn. From his memory come the characters from "Schoolhouse Rock" reminding him, "If I teach the way the songs teach, the kids will want to learn."
Averill said the stage show features many musical genres, including rock and roll, country and western, and the blues. The songs, among them such classics as "Conjunction Junction," "I'm Just A Bill," "Interplanet Janet" and "Three Is the Magic Number," are catchy commercial-length jingles that focus on a single subject.
"Each song has a distinct musical style; it's like putting on a Las Vegas or Worlds of Fun revue, each song has a concept," Averill said. "We're using puppetry, line dancing, roller skating, children's games and a light show.
It's like a fabulous rock concert with an educational twist. Each song is a whole new piece of theatre."
Averill, an award-winning children's theatre playwright, said while the medium of television is sometimes trashed, "Schoolhouse Rock Live!" celebrates some of the values we can get from network TV.
"It's been proven that if kids act out a historical event, they'll never forget it. It's the same thing with 'Schoolhouse Rock Live!' The kids will sing along and they won't forget songs or the concept being taught."
Averill and the Seem-To-Be Players have long used a style of "transformational" theatre wherein the set, props, and costumes are used to become other things. Brooms can become space vehicles and dust mops turn into colonial wigs. For this show, everyday school props come out of desks and become whatever is needed to create "the world of the song."
The show's style in sets, costumes and lighting, all designed by KU scenography graduate students, is eclectic, Averill said, He described the style as "a celebration of '70s, complete with vibrant pastels and wild costumes." Scenographers for the production are Bill Nelson, Kernersville, N.C., set design; M. Scott Grabau, Stockton, Calif., costume design; and Christian Boy, Milwaukee, Wisc., lighting design.
Anthony J. Bernal II will conduct the five-piece on-stage rock band for the musical. In addition to the public performances at KU, students in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades of Lawrence and Douglas County schools will attend slightly shorter matinee performances Oct. 12 through 15. The company will also tour the production to Hays and Iola and Santa Rosa, Calif.
Reserved seat tickets for "Schoolhouse Rock Live!" are now on sale in the KU box offices: Lied Center, 864-ARTS; Murphy Hall, 864-3982; and SUA, 864-3477. Tickets are $16 for the public, $8 for all students, and $15 for senior citizens. Both VISA and MasterCard are accepted for phone orders.
Members of the ensemble for the musical include (listed by name, KU class, parents' names, and home address):