by Lornna Bates
Managing editor
Children dancing in the aisles, songs teaching grammar and punctuation, characters based on multiple personalities of a teacher. Is all of this typical?
It is if you attended the production of “Schoolhouse Rock Live!”
The American Association of University Women and Theatre at Southeastern presented the children’s theatre performance.
The one-time only public production, directed and choreographed by Riley Risso Coker, assistant professor in theatre, was held in the newly renovated Montgomery Auditorium Thursday, April 5.
Dustin Curry, actor extraordinaire, plays a new teacher debating how to arrange his lesson plan for his first day of classes.
In an effort to distract himself from his anxiety, Curry turns on his TV, only to have his living room bombarded by the cast of “Schoolhouse Rock.”
Children growing up during the ’70s and ’80s could watch the “Schoolhouse Rock” cartoon shorts on ABC Saturday mornings. The show offered educational programming that taught children such things as multiplication tables, punctuation, grammar and government through stimulating tunes and clever, memorable lyrics.
The Emmy-award winning children’s show has begun to gain popularity once again. In 2010, Disney released a 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD of “Schoolhouse Rock,” which contains all of the songs from the original cartoon episodes.
Even though I am not very familiar with this particular children’s feature, the play was entertaining. Apparently, I was one of the few in attendance unaware of the original premise of the show.
I noticed the adults and children around me singing along with the ensemble, which leads me to believe that I was left out of something as a child.
And perhaps the most enjoyable part of the feature, at least for me, was the 10th and final song the cast performed. “Ay-yah (Hippy Hop Bump)” has Boomer Lowrie singing and playing guitar along with a beat-box accompaniment provided by Tanner Risner. The song was incredibly catchy, and the sound was infectious.
After now witnessing numerous productions from the Theatre at Southeastern, I am beginning to wonder if there is anything that the versatile and very talented Lowrie cannot do. The boy has some dance moves that are seriously smooth and innovative (at least for what I have witnessed thus far on campus).
In fact, the movement involved in the production overall was good. Coker’s choreography maintained audience attention with visual appeal.
The theater was inhabited by scores of young children with their eyes glued to the stage, held rapt by the action they were seeing from all corners.
Curry’s rendition of “Electricity” was also a must-see. If there was to be another performance of the play, I would probably go again just to get the chance to see his insane gyrations while he jammed out alone on the stage.
Occasionally the actors lined the aisles, inviting the people to join in the antics.
Children around the theater stared in fascination at the performers, reminding me of fans who are faced with a celebrity and can only stand there staring in awe and wonder.
The musical offered something for both children and parents in attendance. Parents were touched by a moment of nostalgia, possibly for the innocence and care-free times of childhood they miss so much, and children were delighted by the music, fun and fanfare of learning.
To me there is nothing cuter than watching a little ones giggling uncontrollably while chasing a seemingly endless supply of bubbles and balloons, which is how the play concluded.
The cast included Kevin Anastasio, Jessica Black, Victoria Cook, Brianne Cothran, Curry, Taylor Donaldson, Sheridan Hill, Domanick Hubbard, Lowrie, Noel McDaniel, Kylie Page, Rowdy Peacock, Trent Pratt, Aaron Rains, Risner, Minda Rocha, Ashleigh Self and Rebecca Sparks.