When Bats Try to be Birds
Buzz! Bang! Plonk! Stellaluna has fallen into the nest! The count down has begun, and there is less than one month until opening night. We are practicing every night to prepare every asset in our hands. What are we practicing? Puppets, songs, sign language, violent tap dancing, and piano playing is what!
Flitter, Flap and Pip are the funniest and most sarcastic baby birds in the nest. Do you have a sibling rivalry? So do these sisters! Food and fun is what’s on their mind. Maddi, Addison and I have had plenty of fun pretending to squabble like sisters and bicker like birds in these past few practices. When Emily comes in, she’s laughing with us! Stellaluna doesn’t like to fight like the birds do, but Pip gives her plenty of trouble anyway. Of course, not when mother bird is around!
The puppets in this show have variety in shape, type, size, usage, and the number of people needed to work the thing! Talking owls don’t come cheap, so Meredith has had an enjoyable time working the head of a three person owl puppet, especially come eating time! Fruit bats aren’t the only animals flying around at night.
In case the name mislead you, (ha!) fruit bats eat fruit. Birds, needless to say, do not eat fruit, but bugs. Well, does Stellaluna have quite the switch to make, or what? Told through a fast paced, fun, and (a bit) spoiled song and tap number, the story of three hungry birds is not for the weak of heart. Or for those who don’t like songs about bugs. Luckily the song is better than it sounds! Caution: this song contains lots of messy eating and fun! Parents, ever get sick of a whining child? So did this mother! Well, she taught them a lesson!
After dinner, we usually go to bed, right? Well Stellaluna has a very special way of sleeping: upside down! Well, mother bird isn’t happy with this, even more so after Flitter, Flap, and Pip decide to try it themselves. Swooping in on her two person puppet, Meredith speaking and Audrey flapping, Mummy puts a stop to that! I have to say, hanging upside down is one of my favorite parts of the show!
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s a bat who thinks she’s a bird! Flying has been a lifelong dream to mankind since the first bird. Well, now bat-kind is getting their own chance! Tomorrow is our first flying lesson, and let’s just say Stellaluna still sees like a bat. Around nightfall is when she wants to be out flying. The birds, on the other hand, cannot see at night. Grudgingly, Stellaluna must hold the urge back to follow her true nature. Can she do it?