By Karen Wolitzer
On May 19, you and your little loved ones can see Garfield, the wisecracking, coffee-guzzling, nap-taking fat cat scheme to throw himself a gigantic birthday bash...and why not? In real life, the comic strip cat is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
But that doesn't explain the school bus...and that's because there are two shows for the price of one. In addition to everyone's favorite cat, the Magic School Bus with Ms. Frizzle, Arnold, Carlos and Wanda, will arrive to teach everyone about the importance of recycling.
Kids have been enjoying the Magic School Bus books and cartoon for years. They're all about adventure, learning, taking chances, making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. In the books, Ms. Frizzle and a magic school bus take the kids on all sorts of adventures.
Our show is called The Magic School Bus Recycles' and the lesson is for the kids to learn to recycle so we don't have to create more landfills, says Jack Desroches, President of Strawberry Productions and producer of both shows. Kids learn to recycle through song and audience participation. Pre-schoolers adore it and even 11, 12, and 13-year-olds that come with little siblings love the show.
It's full of original music. There's a rap song R-E-C-Y-C-L-E.' The lyrics are very catchy. And then there's a song called, It All Adds Up,' and everyone leaves the show singing, It all adds up; it all adds up '
Towards the end of the show, some audience members get to come up on stage and learn how to recycle. It's very cool the bus transforms into a recycling center. The kids get little hard hats and gloves and pick up trash, while everyone's singing. And not only is the audience having a great time, they're learning and they don't even know it.
Ms. Frizzle's class ultimately learns how to keep our world healthy, clean and beautiful. After all the recycling fun, it's time to help Garfield celebrate his birthday in style, as he plans his own surprise party.
Everyone knows Garfield, says Jack. And everyone loves him! In our show, his owner, John, is planning to throw him a surprise party, but Garfield is sure that he's not going to and decides to throw himself an elaborate affair like only Garfield can.
Of course, he doesn't plan on doing all or really any of the work, so he needs help from the audience to plan his purrr-fect party.
It's a fun show about teamwork and creating something positive, John explains. A couple of kids get to come up on stage to help decorate and somebody from the audience will also get to present Garfield with the gifts he bought for himself. Of course, he wants to make sure that he's given the right gifts.
Both shows are guaranteed to have little ones leaving with smiles on their faces and songs on their lips.
Upcoming
children's shows
Carole & Paula From The Magic Garden: July 9th and10th
Sleeping Beauty: July 16th and17th
Alice in Wonderland: July 23rd and 24th
Aladdin: July 30th and 31st
Cinderella: August 6th and 7th
The Adventures of Pinocchio: August 13th and 14th
Beauty and the Beast: August 20th and 21st
Westbury Music Fair
960 Brush Hollow Road, Westbury
May 19; 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Shows will be performed in the half-round.
Tickets: $15.00; available at Westbury Music Fair's box office, select Ticketmaster ticket outlets, and online at www.musicfair.com.
