The Ant and the Elephant Tickets

The Ant and the Elephant
Intramusic Theatricals, the creative team of last seasons The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, is staging its new family musical, The Ant and the Elephant in October 2008.

Based upon Bill Peets childrens classic about the power of one good deed, the story has been lovingly adapted into a delightful puppet musical by IntraMusic Theatricals! This story personifies animals with human characteristics, weaving a simple, but powerful, message of moral choices.

The moral lessons in The Ant and the Elephant are that one good turn deserves another, and the smallest among us can prove the most powerful. The writer of this story, Bill Peet started as a sketch artist and eventually became Walt's top illustrator on Disney's animated features.

His responsibilities included storyboarding, illustrating and producing many now-classic Disney films, including Dumbo and 101 Dalmations. . Inspired by the bedtime stories he told his sons, Bill left Disney after 27 years to begin writing and illustrating his own storybooks full time.

He went on to write more than thirty books for children which are univer-sally praised by students, teachers, parents and librarians. Bill passed away in 2002 but he left a legacy of stories and drawings that continue to inspire, educate and entertain.

The Ant in the Elephant was written in 1972 and was inspired by the ancient Aesop fable, The Ant and the Dove. In that story, an ant is caught in a stream. A dove flies by and drops a leaf in the water to allow the ant to get to shore. When a hunter tries to capture the dove, the ant stings him. This causes the hunter to make enough noise to warn the dove, giving it enough time to fly away to safety.

While continuing the Aesop's fables' tradition of personifying animals with human characteristics, Peet's book captures this idea of one good turn deserves another this colorful and tuneful production reminds us that its not ones size that matters, but the size of ones heart. Set to music by a Tony Award winning team (The Drowsy Chaperone) this endearing musical teaches us all the power of one good deed.

With the collaboration of like-minded creative professionals who have dedicated their time, creativity and artistry to each production IntraMusic Theatricals was launched in 2003. Since then it is dedicated to creating and producing original works for the live entertainment and family markets.

From Broadway Junior On Tour and Disney's Cinderella and The Jungle Book to the first touring production of Tony?-nominated Best Musical A Year With Frog and Toad, each year their critically acclaimed productions visit major performing arts centers across North America.

In keeping with our mission to develop original works, IMT launched two new musicals in the 2007 season with The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley and Frankly Ben and now The Ant and the Elephant all directed by Timothy A. McDonald. He is a fierce advocate for educators. From his early days at MTI he has worked to design materials and create professional development seminars that give any teacher anywhere the tools necessary to put on a show in their community.

He has been invited to give presentations for leading organizations including the Music Educators National Conference, the National Alliance of Elementary School Principals, the National PTA and the National Alliance of Music Theater.

As a booking agent and artist representative with Columbia Artists Management and The Booking Group, Stephan Gabriele (Producer) was responsible for numerous theatrical touring productions including Ragtime, West Side Story, Victor/Victoria, State Fair with John Davidson, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Fiddler on the Roof, Damn Yankees with Jerry Lewis, A Chorus Line, and RENT.

Upon leaving The Booking Group a few years back, Steve facilitated an agreement between educational publishing giant Macmillan/McGraw-Hill and influential theatrical licensing house Music Theatre International which resulted in a first-time nationwide school curriculum textbook with lessons dedicated specifically to established musical theater repertoire.

The musical begins with the writer sitting at his desk brainstorming ideas for his next story. (Song: Nothing Into Something). He tries a few different ideas and finally settles on a story about ANT. The writer starts to narrate the story as Ant and the other characters begin to act out the adventures he describes.

The first one starts with an ant stranded in the middle of a river clinging precariously to a blade of grass. A turtle wanders by, and although he could easily rescue the poor ant, he declines to help. The turtle soon falls into troubles of his own and just as he refused to help the ant, the turtles pleas for help are also ignored. And so begins a cycle of misfortune and misdeeds.

This is broken only until the kindly elephant arrives who then helps not only the ant but also all the other non-Samaritans who have problems. Only the ant offers a word of thanks to the elephant. But the elephant has a different problem - pride: Everyone has his troubles except for big me. Ill never get into a fix where I need help.

Sure enough, misfortune befalls the big elephant. Finally, when everyone is out of trouble, the elephant falls into a ravine and can't get out. Now who will help the elephant when he needs it? Will anybody remember his good deed and return the favor? Designed to promote education through the power of musical theater, this thought provoking 60 minute production is brought to life on stage through song and dance.

It is about how acts of kindness can lead to lasting friendships and is guaranteed to entertain and empower even the youngest member of the family.