Interview: MSMT's MAGIC TIME Draws Capacity Crowds

"Are you ready for some fun and fairytales? We're going to need you to use your imaginations to help us." The preschoolers in the front rows giggle and squeal in anticipation.

Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark knows how to energize young audiences, and he clearly relishes the opportunity to perform for this morning crowd of over 160 ranging in age from several months to grandparents who have come to hear the special program of story and song, MAGIC TIME at Brunswick, Maine's Curtis Memorial Library. The two free forty-minute interactive programs, which featured readings, video, and live performances of the Robin and Clark musical versions of Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland, were created by MSMT in partnership with the Curtis Memorial Library with the help of a generous gift from the Maine Humanities Council and drew almost 300 people for both sessions. The idea, born of MSMT's desire to expand its outreach efforts, nurture young audiences, and draw a new diverse public to live theatre, began as a successful mini-grant proposal to Maine Humanities Council and by virtue of the enthusiasm of the MSMT and CML staffs and the community response mushroomed into something of a maxi event with lines cued up and out the library doors before the start of each show.

Of the project Clark says, "We are calling this program Magic Time because we believe that live musical theatre and storytelling are both arts which use the imagination to create a special brand of magic. Our imaginations are remarkable tools. They help us solve all kinds of problems, create safe spaces, and literally open up whole new worlds for us." His partner, Managing Director Stephanie Dupal, adds that her own love of theatre began right here in Midcoast Maine when as a child, her parents brought her at an early age to the shows at MSMT and elsewhere. Both Dupal and Clark in recent years have made it a high priority to expand and enhance MSMT's Young Audiences program, adding performances, enhancing the production values of the two summer shows, and seeking through partnerships with other community organizations such as local schools and civic groups and the Curtis Memorial Library to create educational entertaining events for a broader public.

Clark's own commitment to young audiences has been a constant thread running through his career and that of his artistic collaborator and husband, Marc Robin. Together the pair began to write children's musicals in Chicago some twenty-seven years ago, when both worked at the Drury Lane Evergreen Park, where Robin was Artistic Director and Clark helped run the Young Audiences program. Together they have written the book, music, and lyrics for fifteen shows, which have received over 250 performances nationally and in Europe. Based on original fairytale source material, each musical retelling is given new, contemporary twists. These titles, among them Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland (which will be presented at MSMT this summer) to Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Snow White, seek not only to entertain young audiences, but to educate them, subtly raising issues about values and challenging stereotypes.

This ability to educate while having fun was on display in Friday's programs. Joined by Youth Services Librarian Pam Jenkins who read from the original Brothers Grimm and Lewis Carroll tales and Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold narrating, the cast included Clark and Kristen Thomas with Marcia Gallagher on keyboards performing live. Thomas gave two lyrical, wistful readings of "Colors of the World" and "Wonderland," while Clark sang an amusing, animated rendition of "Allergies" and a rousing, witty "Have Mercy."

Peppering the performances and readings with improvised chat, Clark posed questions to his audience and engaged them on the chief issues of the two plays. At one point in the Sleeping Beauty sequence, he asked the children to define wisdom, courage, and love - the Palace Sisters' gifts to the princess; noting that the musical version ends with the forgiveness of the vengeful Magenta, he elicited the children's views on the script's line, "And they all lived happily ever after; Amber and Prince Hunter forgive Magenta, because they know that true happiness can only be built on loving one another" - a conclusion the children applauded. He raised issues of Princess Amber's rebelling against the notion of some things being "only just for boys" and drew some lively responses, especially from the afternoon's older audience. In the Alice sequence, with its colorful and bizarre characters, the theme of imagination returned in full force, and the children seemed to particularly respond to the talking animals and fantastical creatures on the screen and embodied in the songs.

Clark wrapped the program up by telling the audience that "Imagination is very important in our lives. It helps us to see things in ways which we wouldn't otherwise, and it brings magic into our lives." Joined byThomas and Gallagher he closed by teaching the youngsters a verse of the Sleeping Beauty song, "Magic Time," Clark finished the song by asking, "Do you believe in magic?"

The answer was a resounding YES!

Photograph by Raymond Marc Dumont; Video by Olivia Wenner.

Magic Time was presented by MSMT and Curtis Memorial Library at the Morrell Meeting Room on February 24, 2017, at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. with the help of a generous grant from the Maine Humanities Council. For more information of the upcoming Sleeping Beauty and Alice in Wonderland at MSMT visit www.msmt.org or for information on future special Young Audiences and outreach events contact Olivia Wenner at 207-725-8760 ext. 1-18.

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