Upcoming Bay Area Children’s Theatre Season Features Music, Magic, a Bit of Mayhem

The music of Bob Marley. The magic of authors like Roald Dahl, Annie Barrows and Kate DiCamillo. All this and more is coming to the stage, as the Bay Area Children’s Theatre (BACT) begins its 2014-2015 season. 

For 2014-15, BACT is producing six main stage shows inspired by children’s literature and an original musical mystery about scientific sleuthing that will be performed at local schools.

The upcoming season will feature exuberant monkeys who speak in rhyme, a magical peach that shelters an orphaned boy and some very big bugs, songbirds crooning Bob Marley’s reggae hits, the adventure-filled odyssey of a china rabbit, and a little girl with fancy ideas.

BACT performs in seven Bay Area theaters located in Berkeley, Mill Valley, Oakland, San Francisco, and San Ramon. To meet growing audience demand, the company will increase the number of its performances at the Children’s Creativity Museum Theater in San Francisco. BACT is also bringing its annual Oakland summer production for preschoolers to San Francisco and Mill Valley.  

Here is the line-up of shows:

1) FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS

Opens: July

Where: Oakland (Children’s Fairyland), San Francisco (Creativity Museum Theater), Mill Valley (Marin Theatre Company)

BACT’s 2014-2015 season opens with the company’s annual production for preschoolers at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland.  No question that those five little monkeys will get into as much mischief on stage as they do in their namesake picture books by Eileen Christelow.  Take cover when they make that birthday cake for Mama . . . meet up with a crocodile . . . and disappear in the store!  Not to mention all that jumping! Book by Ernie Nolan.  Directed by Karen Altree Piemme.  Recommended for all ages.  (1 and up need a ticket.)

2) IVY + BEAN, THE MUSICAL

Opens: September

Where: Berkeley (Osher Studio)

The mischievous second-grade heroines of Annie Barrow’s New York Times best-selling Ivy + Bean series are back by popular demand, with toe-tapping tunes and their special brand of witchcraft.  BACT created this original stage adaptation, with book, music and lyrics by Scott Elmegreen.  Directed by Benjamin Hanna.  Recommended for 4 and up.

3) JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

Opens: November

Where: Mill Valley, Berkeley (Freight & Salvage), San Ramon (Dougherty Valley Performing Arts Center), San Francisco

This exciting new musical about an orphaned boy who escapes from his wicked aunts aboard an enormous enchanted peach is inspired by Roald Dahl’s classic book of the same name.  Music and lyrics by the Tony Award-nominated team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Adaptation by respected playwright and educator Timothy Allen McDonald. Directed by BACT Executive Director Nina Meehan. Recommended for 4 and up.

4) THREE LITTLE BIRDS: A NEW REGGAE CHILDREN’S MUSICAL

Opens:  January

Where:  Berkeley (Freight & Salvage), San Francisco, Mill Valley, San Ramon (Front Row Theater)

The reggae music of Bob Marley evokes the spirit of Jamaica in this modern-day fairytale about the unexpected adventures of timid, 11-year-old Ziggy.  Watch out for evil Duppy, but “don’t worry about a thing, ‘cause every little thing gonna be all right!” Based on the story by Cedella Marley. Adapted for the stage by Michael J. Bobbitt. Additional music and lyrics by John L. Cornelius, II. Directed by Michael Mohammed. Recommended for 4 and up.

 5) THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE

Opens: February

Where: Berkeley (Osher Studio), San Francisco

When Edward, an elegant china rabbit, is snatched from the arms of the little girl who adores him, his easy existence becomes an epic, sometimes painful journey that touches the lives of everyone he meets, from an old fisherman to a hobo to a little boy protecting his sister. A moving stage adaptation by Dwayne Hartford of Kate DeCamillo’s award-winning tale about being loved and learning to love.  Directed by Doyle Ott.  Recommended for 7 and up.

6) FANCY NANCY, THE MUSICAL

Opens: April

Where: Berkeley (Freight & Salvage), San Ramon (Front Row Theater), Mill Valley, San Francisco

Does it glitter? She loves it!  Does it sparkle? She’s thrilled. In Nancy’s play world, even words can be fancy as long as they are lonnnggg . . . or French! Nancy and her dance class friends will soon perform Deep Sea Dance, their first recital—that’s fancy for show! She dreams of donning a tiara and diving into the role of an elegant mythical ocean dweller, but will she get the part?  Book and lyrics by Susan DiLallo. Music and lyrics by Danny Abosch.  Based on the New York Times bestselling Fancy Nancy series by Jane O’Connor. Directed by Tracy Ward. Recommended for all ages. (1 and up need a ticket.)

“Early Bird” Savings on Family Flex Pass Subscriptions Available through June 30:

 6-show Family Flex Pass: $100 adults, $90 seniors, $80 children

5-show Family Flex Pass: $85 adults, $77 seniors, $68 children

4-show Family Flex Pass: $70 adults, $63 seniors, $56 children

Note:  Family Flex Passes are valid for performances in Oakland (Children’s Fairyland), Berkeley, and San Francisco. Subscription prices will increase after June 30.

FALL SCHOOL TOUR: LAB COATS AND SCAPEGOATS: A SCIENCE FAIR MUSICALAMITY

In BACT’s fall touring production, Lab Coats and Scapegoats: A Science Fair Musicalamity, a student's science fair project is sabotaged, and the accusations start flying!  Even if the evidence seems to point one way, Lettie knows that sometimes there's more to a story than meets the eye. It will take a lot of scientific thinking to sort out all the clues. Using her wits, her ingenuity, and her friends' science fair projects, Lettie sets out to solve the case!  And, surprise, this rollicking story helps introduce students to the scientific method and key concepts in biology, chemistry and physics!  Book, music and lyrics by Austin Dumbro.  Directed by Sydney Painter.  Booking now for grades K – 5.