July 16, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

'A Whole New' show

by Bill D'Agostino

In Manhattan, they've talked in recent years about the "Disneyfication" of Broadway, as the grit and grime of peep shows got replaced by the glitz and glamour of "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast."

The Palo Alto Children's Theatre has never been known as gritty or grimy, but this summer it's getting the Disney treatment nonetheless. A New York licensing company, Musical Theatre International, has picked the group to be the first to try out new stage adaptations of four of Disney's classic movies.

"We're just pleased as punch," Assistant Theatre Director Michael Litfin said, who described the selection as "one of the biggest honors with which the theatre's been trusted."

By why premiere the plays in Palo Alto?

"It's a very special place," Senior Vice President Carol Edelson said. "We've worked with them on various projects over the years."

The honor is the second tribute this summer for the 72-year-old theatre company, which has more than 1,600 participants a year and is run through the City of Palo Alto. The July edition of San Francisco magazine named the troupe's Magic Castle series the finest "theatre for budding musketeers," calling the summer productions "certain to be the best $3 to $6 Disney musicals you'll ever see."

So far, the ensemble of 8 to 18-year-olds has performed "101 Dalmatians" and "Cinderella" outside in the Magic Castle, as part of the Hotdog Suppertime Shows. "The Jungle Book" opened this week in the same space, and "Aladdin" will open July 28 on the indoor Patricia Briggs Auditorium. ("Beauty and the Beast" was performed earlier this month by the theatre's Wingspread summer-stock troupe, featuring 16 to 24-years-old performers.)

The new scripts, whose lengths and content are tailored for a junior audience, have enlivened both directors and actors. For the adults, it's a rare opportunity to direct something they've never seen before. "They really get your creative juices flowing," Liftin said. For the youngsters, it's a chance to sing songs many already know by heart, thanks to multiple childhood viewings.

There are challenges, though, with being a guinea-pig theatre company. All the scripts are technically only rough drafts, and the creative team has found a few rough patches. Some of the magical moments -- such as Aladdin's flying carpet and the transformation of a pumpkin into Cinderella's coach -- have never been staged before, and so require an adept hand to mount.

The solutions call for standard theatre techniques, according to Litfin. For instance, an actor onstage will operate the flying carpet, gliding Aladdin (played by Tom Marks) and the princess Jasmine (Kelly Collins) into "A Whole New World." Video images will also be projected behind the actors to suggest greater movement.

To perform a Disney script, the theatre must sign a contract, stipulating they will honor the company's unique sensibilities.

"So no one will take these and do something inappropriate," Litfin explained.

Producers also agree to not copy the exact look and feel of the movies. It can be a tough line to ride. From day one, directors told their actors not to go back and view the movies if they had seen them.

"It's a lump of clay and we have to figure out how to mold it," said 13-year-old Sam Dulik, who plays the wisecracking Genie who grants the ruffian Aladdin his three wishes. In the 1992 movie, Robin Williams added verbal improvisations that helped make the movie such a smash.

Sam is using similar linguistic talents to showcase the multiple personalities trapped within the genie (he's particularly proud of a moment when he mimics a flight attendant). But he's also got Borscht Belt timing that made the character edge more towards Alan King's stand-up, rather than Will Ferrell's physical comedy, during an early rehearsal.

When he was eight, Sam was in the chorus of a Children's Theatre production of a non-Disney, non-musical version of the Aladdin tale. He finds the update more fun.

"The differences to the script that Disney added have brought life to it, really added some exuberance," he said, while sitting in the theatre's audience watching other actors rehearse the opening number.

Exuberant is a good way to describe the production as a whole. Costumes are bright and cheerful. Dance numbers involve small hordes of teens. ("101 Dalmatians" also featured younger actors in the last scene, as the new generation of pups.) And everything is up, up, up.

"I need that eight times bigger," Litfin told his actors during a recent afternoon. Getting young performers to "read" on stage is one of the challenges of conducting youth theatre.

"I want to see your uvula -- you know, that thing that hangs in the back of your mouth. That's what I want to see," Litfin urged. "If we see your teeth -- what your parents probably paid thousands of dollars for -- we can't hear you."

Even actors playing small parts get attention during the rehearsal process. ("Our philosophy isn't to make stars," Liftin said. "It's to make good citizens.") A few moments later, he asked three shy "harem girls" to lie on the floor, breathing deeply as they sang.

The girls stood up, giggling and blushing.

"That was much better," Litfin said. "Even though you were singing straight up, I could hear you."

Sure enough, the next time their section of the song was played, it was louder and clearer.

"OK," Litfin ordered a few moments later, "let's try that one more time from the top."

Julia Blum, a 13-year-old incoming freshman at Palo Alto High School, claimed to be the only performer to have never seen the movies. She is playing one of the three narrators in Aladdin -- one of the dramatic devices used to move the story along.

A "narrator" can be a blase character to play on the stage, because he or she is only commenting on the action, not being a part of it. To give her narrator more individuality and dramatic punch, Julia decided to make her a ditz. One line sounded kind of ditzy, so she decided to make that an aspect of her entire performance, she explained.

Other changes have been made to condense the movie script. For instance, Aladdin's monkey sidekick, Apu, was cut out of the script entirely. Iago, the parrot-sidekick of the villain, Jafar, nearly faced the same fate, but was resurrected in the most recent draft. John Blanchette, a young actor with a puppet and a screechy voice, now gives him life.

The choices appear to be working. The scripts are now scheduled for wide release on Jan. 1, 2005.

"Overall we've learned that they were successful," said Tim McDonald, Music Theatre International's director of creative development and educational initiatives, who has traveled to Palo Alto to direct new shows in the past.

In 2000, McDonald directed a junior version of "Les Miserables" at the Children's Theatre. It was originally intended for middle school students, but the production team realized that the 70-minute show needed to be longer, and that it was more appropriate for high-school students. The 90-minute show has been in the licensee's repertory for two years, and is already the Number One-produced high-school musical in the country.

"The Palo Alto community is very lucky and very privileged to have such a phenomenal program," McDonald said.

Staff writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at bdagostino@paweekly.com

What: Disney's "Jungle Book Junior" and "Aladdin Junior," presented by the Palo Alto Children's Theatre

Where: Palo Alto Children's Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto

When: Show times for "Jungle Book" are Tuesdays through Fridays at 6:30 p.m. through July 23. Show times for "Aladdin" are 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. for Wednesday, July 28 and Thursday, July 29 and 2:30 p.m. for Friday, July 30.

Cost: Tickets are $3 for students and $6 for adults.

Info: Please call the box office at (650) 463-4930.

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