Why we like Harry Potter

Astute readers will notice that my posts here have been steadily declining for quite some time. This is mostly because other interests have taken my time and attention elsewhere, and those other activities remain incredibly, well, active, right now. I won't go into them all, which would be boring even for me, but I will say that there's been a lot of things I've wanted to write about here that have fallen to the side during all my craziness and disorganization. (And I'm oh so sorry to those publicists and musicians who I haven't followed through with yet!! It's still coming!) I'm writing for my own film/transmedia blog and have now started posting for Filmmaker magazine, plus I'm also revising my own website--randyastle.com--with the intention to migrate a lot of my blogging there. My writing docket's pretty full.

So what to do here, on my oldest and truest little blog? Long term I don't know, but for the next little while I'm going to try shaking it up and seeing what kind of effect that can have on my own writing and consistency. In a nutshell, I'm going to try treating Red Balloon more casually, more autobiographically, and more like any other daddy blog out there--although I'll certainly retain my bias toward media. Loretta and Isabelle are seven and two now, and their adventures through the digital world are well worth chronicling.

A couple weeks ago I was cleaning out some computer and camera stuff from our storage closet and ran across a roll of 35mm film. "Look, Loretta," I said, "this is what people used to take pictures on."

"Why didn't they just use a camera?"

Oh, my dear sweet digital native. Last night she said Izzy sounded like a "record on repeat" and I realized she'll never see or hear a broken record in her life. A hair turned gray but I got a bit more insight into her seven-year-old worldview.

In monitoring all this familial activity, I won't lose my perspective as an active participant in the children's entertainment industry. I'll try to increase my reviews--helpful for both creators and users--and continue speaking about industry information, news, etc. -- just all from the perspective of a father who's both a creator and consumer in this biz.

So I'm going to try to upload a rather large video file of Loretta talking about her favorite books. She accompanied me on a shoot for a nonprofit organization, and while we had a little pause for that I had Loretta take a seat in front of the camera and asking her about books was just the first thing that popped into my head. But I think it turned into an insightful little interview.

Sorry about the squeeze and grain on the image. I shot it HD but am still figuring out all the compression codecs, etc.

So for the record, we've let her read the first two Harry Potter books but we're taking a several-month break before #3. Call us conservative, but I also think that will help draw the experience out longer and help her as the actual reading level pushes upward toward The Deathly Hallows.

Here are some of her favorites, then:

and

The Anderson School, where Loretta goes, doesn't technically celebrate Halloween, not during the school day anyway (tonight they're watching Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Wererabbit as an evening event). Next Monday is Storybook Character Day, not Halloween, so every kid's costume has to come out of a storybook somewhere. Loretta's is Annie's kimono here from Dragon of the Red Dawn. And if you're really interested in seeing it in action, here she is on the Today show this last Tuesday. A film crew caught us near the end of the day at Boo at the Bronx Zoo a couple weeks ago. So Loretta, little Isabelle (a chicken holding Cinderella's hand), and some friends are in the video at 2:41.



It was just a moment of screen time but it made Izzy's day. Happy Halloween!

Muppets Galore

Just a couple of notes about things going on around New York related to Muppets. The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is hosting the Jim Henson's Fantastic World exhibit until next January. As explained on the museum's website, the exhibit contains Muppets and material covering everything from his earliest show Sam and Friends through all the films--Muppet movies as well as Dark Crystal--and the well-known television shows: The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and of course Sesame Street, which is filmed next door to the museum. There are evidently demonstrations and lectures on the weekends, but for the next couple weeks Friday afternoons are free, so you can pick which you'd rather have. We'll probably go this Friday.

If you like looking behind the scenes of the Muppets, you can then catch a screening of the new documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, which premiered at Sundance and is currently showing as part of DocuWeeks in New York and L.A. Directed by Constance Marks, who cut her teeth with the Maysles brothers, and featuring Kevin Clash (aka Elmo), this looks like one of the best looks behind the scenes of Sesame Street we've had; for me it seems more engaging than The World According to Sesame Street from 2005. Maybe it's apples and oranges because of the different emphases of the films, but giving intelligent analysis to the character and phenomenon of Elmo, and the creative personality behind him, seems like a really excellent idea.

Here's a really short teaser:

Here's an interview with the filmmakers:

and with the subject:

A note on the show

Just wanted to say Saturday's Milkshake show was everything that was expected--a little bottle of sunshine while it was raining outside. It helped cement my belief that the Just Kidding series is one of the great opportunities for New York families. This Saturday: music of the African diaspora from Heritage OP (Organic Percussion). Check it out.

Just Kidding at Symphony Space

One of the coolest things about living in New York is all the wonderful venues and events going on for youth and families all the time. Symphony Space in the Upper West Side is one of the great continual fountains of such events. Thus far, because of my interest in children's film, I've only attended the New York International Children's Film Festival (this year's tickets just went on sale a few days ago). But this Saturday I'm excited to go to a performance by Milkshake as part of Symphony Space's Just Kidding live event series. I've been vaguely aware of the series for quite a while but have never found out much about it or, obviously, attended, so it's exciting to not only see Milkshake again but tap into one of the best children's concert series in the city.

Of course, calling it a "concert series" is a little myopic, as I found out yesterday when I got to chat with Darren Critz, the performing arts director who curates the entire series. (He's the one on the left, I believe.)

Darren's a really affable guy--and incredibly knowledgeable about children's music, as I found out. He has two main programming dicta that reflect this: the first is that any performers have to be quality musicians (or dancers or thespians), and on top of that quality live performers--they have to not only sound good on their CD but engage kids at the back of a 750-seat hall. His second rule of thumb is that he wants as broad a range of music as possible, from the country sounds of Farmer Jason to pop and rock acts like Milkshake, Recess Monkey, and the Sugar Free Allstars, to, this season, international and native music such as from folk artist Suni Paz, the Thunderbird Dancers (who present an array of Native American dances), and, all the way from Cuba for the first time since 2002, los Munequitos de Matanzas (who will be giving shows for both families and adults sans kids). This array is already striking, and Darren envisions getting more artists from outside the U.S.--as well as just from outside the city--coming in and presenting their work.

Since college I've striven to be eclectic in my musical choices, so I appreciate being able to expose my daughters to such a broad spectrum of live performers this early in their lives. Tweens, it seems, have started to solidify in the type of music they like, and they're hesitant to try anything new. And parents are even worse. So Darren sees the Just Kidding series as an opportunity to expand parents' musical worlds as well as kids'. Parents are more likely to take children to a concert of music that they wouldn't normally listen to just to expose the kids to it--and the upshot is that the parents are exposed as well. One of the best things about the entire series, in fact, is watching parents get into shows and rock out with their children.

That brings me to what I believe is one of the most important purposes of live events--be they music, dance, theater, galleries, picnics, or anything else--they allow for greater interaction between parent and child than more passive (socially constrained) experiences like watching a movie. I wrote about the value of interaction between parents and children in one of my first posts on this blog (it's point #4); suffice it to say here that the type of talent lined up for Just Kidding is exactly what you would want for this type of interaction. And groups like Milkshake are great, as we discovered with our infant last year, because they pack so much more into a performance than just the music. There's such a strong visual component, as Darren pointed out, that they can entertain very, very young children (as well as adults).

Here are some other really cool things I learned about Just Kidding:

* In addition to pushing international performers, future series (which run from October through April generally) will have a stronger component of theater and dance. I'm really pleased about that.

* If you miss a performance or don't live in the city, chances are it will have been recorded and you can catch it online at Symphony Space Live. Note, that's for grown-ups' performances as well as kids', and included discussions and presentations as well as performances.

* Also, there's a lesser known book series that brings literature into the mix. These presentations aren't as frequent as those with musicians, due to publishing dates, author availability, and general book tour issues, but they're definitely worth checking out. (These are generally for 7-11 year-old readers, btw--chapter books and easy novels rather than picture books.) The next one is with Laurie Halse Anderson on March 20, with Lincoln Peirce on April 10. Authors do various things, but they include readings, discussions of their works, and even writing workshops with the kids. There are eight to ten of these a year (and, again, there are adult authors as well).

So there's definitely a lot going on--congratulations to Darren and everyone at Symphony Space for keeping such an outstanding series going for roughly a decade now. As far as this Saturday goes, I'm excited to see Milkshake again; we often listen to their music during breakfast to get my seven-year-old moving in the mornings, and I'm excited that she's excited to see them in person now that she can sing along. That kind of reaction from the kids is what these live events are all about.

BAMkids Festival in February

Just a quick note that the schedule for the BAMkids Film Festival in Brooklyn is up and available. It's a great event--looks like an excellent line-up this year--that's happening the first weekend in February. Check it out and if you're at all able it's a great event with shows for kids of all ages.

And speaking of events in New York, check out my post on my other blog about the reopening of the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens; it's a great venue for kids and adults alike, and the new floor space and exhibits will just make it that much better.

Milkshake in New York

I've been following Milkshake somewhat closely on this blog since they released Great Day and I got in touch with the band a few months ago. Now I've just learned that for the first time since they released that album--that got nominated for a Grammy, by the way--they'll be playing in New York. They'll be at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza (just east of Union Square) on April 17. The show's at 10 a.m., which is one great advantage of preschool bands over the traditional variety (and they rock just as hard). Tickets ($20) are at Live Nation and more information's available at www.houseofkidsnyc.com. In fact, the whole House of Kids initiative, which you can read about there, is pretty cool.

New York Children's Film Fest Tix On Sale

Some readers may have noticed a drastic decrease in my posting this year, which is simply due to an influx in other work-related activities that have kept me away from blogging. But I did really want to let New York parents know, if they don't already, that tickets for this year's New York International Children's Film Festival go on sale today. The fest consists of staggered screenings held at various venues from February 26 through March. I've been browsing through the selection and once again it looks fantastic. It's been a hard year for independent film and it's really gratifying to see so many youth-oriented works seeing completion and getting shown in theaters.

Here's just a smattering of screenshots:

Things are, as I said, busy around our house, but I think we'll try to see one of the short programs and Turtle: The Incredible Journey, the documentary pictured above.

The full festival schedule and film descriptions are here at www.gkids.tv. It's imperative to buy tickets beforehand rather than at the door because they sell out quickly. Also please notice one of the festival's great charitable operations, which is donating a portion of box office proceeds to New York City schools, which are somewhat underfunded to say the least. Just click on the drop-down menu at the top ("Select My School or Organization...") before selecting your tickets. If you're so inclined you could even select my daughter's school PS 334 The Anderson School, and we parents would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks to the organizers and congratulations to all the filmmakers! I'm looking forward to another great event this year.

Kids Make Films in New York

The New York International Children's Film Festival, which has a year-round presence through screenings and other events, is currently accepting applications for their third annual Film Production Workshops. Course tracks include claymation, film acting, 2-D animation, and puppet animation and kids age six to sixteen can participate and receive mentoring from working professionals in the respective fields. Films from the first session of courses, held in mid-February, will screen at the festival later next year. For more information see the fest's website. I haven't checked the price, which may be steep, but having conducted animation sessions at the Museum of the Moving Image and more recently done the cinematography merit badge with my local Boy Scout troop's Blazer patrol (i.e. the eleven-year-olds) I can testify that kids this age love this thing, and, who knows, you may just be nurturing the talent of the next Orson Welles.

Little Airplane Cafe

Ever wander around lower Manhattan and get a hankering for a stick of celery? Well now all your problems are solved! Little Airplane Productions, creators of Wonder Pets, 3rd & Bird, and the new interstitial Tobi! opened their doors yesterday to create their newest venture, the Little Airplane Cafe. The cafe is located at the studio at South Street Seaport (207 Front Street, actually). I'm not sure exactly how the layout works, since the studio itself doesn't have any street-level space, but my hunch is that it's up one flight of stairs in or around the space that has housed Little Airplane's gift shop. 

I also don't know for sure if celery's on the menu, but I do know that a series of children's music stars will be performing on various dates. Yesterday's opening was hosted by kids' DJ Mindy Thomas of the Absolutely Mindy Show and featured Laurie Berkner. Never fear if you missed that: Milkshake is coming up, as well as a reading by Stinky Cheese Man author Jon Scieszka. 

Here's a press release on the new space, and here's the cafe's page on Little Airplane's website. I suspect that future events will be posted there. 

Donnell Library Part 3

Although I'm not the foremost expert and I live as far away in Manhattan as you can, I have been able to write twice in the past year about the saga of the closing of the Donnell Library in midtown. In July I mentioned that the library, which is located right across the street from the Museum of Modern Art (which was recently extensively remodeled), was slated for closure to make way for a new hotel; the majority of its holdings, including the New York Public Library's main film/video and children's collections (with the original Winnie-the-Pooh dolls), would be moving to other branches, while the NYPL would be maintaining a small general collection on the ground floor of the hotel. Specifically for our purposes, the children's material has returned back to its original location in the main library on 42nd Street and 5th Avenue, where it was housed for decades before the Donnell's construction. 

Then this April I gave a quick update: the library closed on schedule, but with the recession gutting the real estate and tourism industries in New York City the NYPL's deal with the hotel fell through and the building is now standing essentially vacant. Many residents were upset when the library was slated for replacement, but now that it's simply been eliminated with no financial restitution for the NYPL or potential for even a small branch on 53rd Street, there are quite a few New Yorkers who are up in arms. 

So here for example we see a protester at the opening of the new Grand Central branch on April 29, even though it was supposed to alleviate some of the displeasure over the Donnell's closing. Now people have begun to coalesce together to advocate city and state officials to refurbish and reopen the Donnell. 

Now I am not an expert by any means--I've been focusing all my "political" spare time advocating for better school zoning and gifted and talented options for District 6 with the NYC Department of Education--but I do have some links and cursory info that can point people in the right direction if they want to get involved, or delve into the library's perspective in all this. This comes from Helen Chirivas, one of the chief organizers--so I'd like to thank her for contacting me and for her work despite my inability to be more involved myself. So here it is:

It's no secret that libraries across the country are in crisis as municipal governments run out of funds. I've written very briefly about what's going on in Philadelphia, for instance, but New York is no different. So the blog/site Save NYPL is written by an anonymous librarian with a brief insider perspective about what's going on inside the library, especially the extreme measures that are taking place to keep the entire system above water. This is the reality with which activists and administrators will have to work. And it puts the Donnell in the larger context of keeping the extant branches open six days a week, etc. (It appears this blog may have had more entries in the past that the poster has since deleted, though I'm not sure about that.)

To complement that, however, here is a pdf of a presentation given about the city's One Library Plan last March (2008). It also shows the overall strategy of the library, at least at the beginning of the recession. (I'm most concerned--and intrigued--by the proposed hub library in northern Manhattan; that sounds like a great idea for us northerners as long as it doesn't come at the expense of any existing branches. The Inwood branch, where I spent about forty minutes today with my daughter, is fantastic and essential for this neighborhood.)

Also from last year is this article from the New York Times blog about the library's closing; given that it's now old news it's mostly interesting for the comments included afterwards showing the range of emotions New Yorkers are having over the closing. 

Bringing us much more up to date is a recent article in Library Journal by Norman Oder. It has good information on the collapsed deal and is also well linked to other sources.

The deal with Orient Express Hotels is not going to go through--they're closing hotels throughout the world just to stay in the black. It makes more sense for the city to request the NYPL to spend a few million dollars to refurbish the Donnell (technically it's a private nonprofit but I'm told it's 92% funded by the city). To do that people need to contact their city council representatives, state representatives (if they ever get back to work), Manhattan borough officials, Mayor's office, and even national congressmen and senators; doing so en masse will carry more weight, and by that I mean individual emails sent by dozens to hundreds of people rather than all of them just attaching their names to a petition. Helen Chirivas' group can help coordinate that, however.  You can look for a website soon, but in the meantime the group can be contacted at SavetheDonnell@gmail.com. 

Librarians and patrons--and lawmakers--should be on the same side on this issue. No one wants to see libraries disappear or diminish services; it's just a matter of figuring out how to best serve the city while functioning with reduced resources. 

KidsFilmFest in New York

We are currently halfway through this year’s KidsFilmFest, so if you like me missed last week’s screening at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema you can still attend this Sunday, with screenings at 2 and 4, at the (new) New Museum in downtown Manhattan at 235 Bowery. It’s $10 at the door for adults and free for kids under 18.

I do wish that festival organizers would stop programming on Sundays, but that’s the way of the world most of the time. For those families for whom Sunday is the Sabbath, check out the First Saturdays program at the New Museum. The first Saturday of every month there are artistic workshops and screenings of past years’ films, which look really fun.

The line-up for this year’s festival looks great. It’s mostly animation, though not all; take a look at the complete program, with some teaser clips included. I haven’t seen any of these films, but my top recommendation has to be the new film by my friend Annie Poon, entitled Puppy’s Super Delicious Valentines Day Biscuits.

Here are some images from some of the other films. I’m thrilled by the apparent variety in medium and content. It looks like a wide-ranging bunch, fit for older kids and most of the younger ones as well.

So if the recession will let you spare ten bucks, come to the New Museum this Sunday or at least one of the upcoming Saturdays. Thanks to the Brooklyn International Film Festival for keeping this tradition alive.

An Update on the Donnell Library

Last July 22 I wrote about the then-imminent closure of the Donnell branch of the New York Public Library, on west 53rd Street across from the Museum of Modern Art. I was saddened because the Donnell was one of my favorite branches where I'd spent quite a bit of time using the Internet way back in the day, checking out movies and books in Spanish, and especially hanging out in the children's room, including seeing a puppet show around this time last year on National Puppetry Day. The best part of the children's room was the original Winnie-the-Pooh dolls from the A. A. Milne estate. 

The library was scheduled to close for the development of a marquis hotel, a change that I still suppose was meant to capitalize on the wake of the MOMA's recent major renovation. All the branch's holdings were to be moved to other locations--and the children's material, including Pooh, has indeed gone back to its original location at the 42nd Street building, where it was housed in Anne Carroll Moore's day. Still, there are quite a few New Yorkers who were upset at the loss of the building itself and the centrality of having all those collections together.

Well, the Times today ran an update. It seems that the library closed on schedule (I walked over to look at it during the KidScreen summit half a block away) and then along came the recession. Long story short the hotel's pulled out and midtown is left without both a hotel and a library. So the people who were upset before are livid now. Here's the story, by Sewell Chan. It seems Donnell has become just another victim as municipal governments strive to figure out how to keep libraries open across the country. I wrote a brief post about that just over a month ago. 

NYICFF Report

Times are pretty busy right now so this year it looks like I'll only be able to make one screening of the New York International Children's Film Festival, and that was Saturday with Loretta when we saw the Shorts for Tots program. The venue was at Symphony Space on the Upper West Side, and we got off the A train early enough that we were able to explore a bit of Central Park first and enjoy the--final--arrival of spring. When we walked over to Broadway the line stretched down a block and around a corner, besides the line for those who still needed to purchase tickets. The wait outside wasn't egregious, particularly given the weather, but once we got in things did take a little while longer than expected as we started the screening about twenty minutes late. It was obviously a good turn-out, with at least half the attendees coming for the first time, but one wishes the entrance process could have started earlier so that we could have dimmed the lights closer to the actual time.

But that's about the worst thing I have to say about it. The program of twelve shorts was great. There was an audience ballot handed out and Loretta said she loved three films and really liked each of the others. Here's a shot from one of her favorites--and possibly mine as well--Spot and Splodge by Lotta Geffenblad in Sweden. 

It was claymation, of course, with wonderful snow effects throughout the whole piece, and it reminded me of a cross between Miffy, with the single narrator, and Pingu, for the frosty setting and the slight mischief entered into by the protagonists. The eight-minute plot revolved around two friends who see it's snowing outside, go out and have fun, get caught in a bit of a blizzard, and then make their way back home again. Loretta liked the snow rabbit that they build, and the fact that because of the cold Spot becomes a bit Splodgey and Splodge becomes a bit Spotty. In fact, she started quoting the closing narration today as we were walking home from church, quite accurately I should add. The narrative worked completely well as a stand along film, but it had such quality and such potential for additional stories with these characters that it's the type of thing you hope the filmmakers are trying to adapt to television. I would love to see Spot and Splodge on the preschool television line-up in two years. 

So that was a highlight, and if I had to single out one more I would certainly mention Laban the Little Ghost by Lasse Persson, again in Sweden. This was a traditional 2D animation, running five minutes, and again it would and should absolutely translate into a serial format. Poor little Laban lives in a haunted castle but just can't seem to spook anybody, not the Queen, not the King, not his best friend the Prince, not even the sleeping little guard dog. The narrative is extremely tight and has a wonderful conclusion. It's hard to make a story about a haunted castle and not scare the two- and three-year-olds, but from what I could tell Persson succeeded completely. The film made being spooky fun (and uplifting), and that's a tough brief to fill, especially within five minutes. Well done, then.

There were no losers among the films, although I must simply admit that I've never been a great fan of the book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, which was here adapted to film by Scholastic/Weston Woods. (I don't know why I don't really care for it--I think it's good enough, and Scholastic, that is director Konstantin Bronzit, did a wonderful job in the adaptation.) Below we have a pic from another Swedish film--they're on a roll--Aston's Stones, which was particularly appropriate since we had just selected a nice round rock from Central Park to bring home. At the top of this post is a pic from the closing film, Hedgehug, by Dan Pinto. The premise was simple enough--who wants to hug a prickly hedgehog?--and it was a good way to close the screenings. I was impressed by this film, the fantastically wonderful opening film The Bridge on the River Zzzeee, and two or three others (The New Species, Horsie) that essentially excluded dialogue. It's great to thus harken back to cinema's linguistically universal roots, especially for an audience that is just developing their own linguistic abilities, and the kids were able to follow all the stories with no trouble. In fact, the chorus of pint-sized benshi scattered throughout the auditorium made these films particularly enjoyable, as kids brazenly talked their way through these texts and the grown ups for once did not feel obligated to silence them. We all benefitted from that, I suspect.

The festival still has a lot more going on the next couple weekends, for everyone from five- to eighteen-year-olds. Congratulations to all the featured filmmakers and thanks (and congratulations) to the organizers on a job well done.

Kids' Films in New York

It is that time of year again, the time when New York City parents wish they had more time in the day--especially Saturdays--to take their kids to all the great cinematic venues around town. The city frequently has cinematic gems showing for kids at some venue or other, but now we're in for the double treat of the New York International Children's Film Festival at five locations in Manhattan and the BAMkids Film Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. (Above is a shot from Dave Pryor's three-minute film Alien for Christmas showing at BAM.) Both are literally world-class events, so you can't go wrong with either. The NYICFF provides showings over the course of several weeks, primarily weekends, from this Friday through March 15, so it's very nice if you're not available this week, for instance, or if you want to catch more than one screening. Inversely, the BAM event is concentrated in one place and one time, this weekend: you can take the kids for an immersive day of cinematic experience, with music, food, face painting, and other kid-friendly activities; it's a partner of the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, one of the top kids' film fests in the world. Both NYICFF and BAMkids have shorts, features, live-action, and 2D (cel, Flash, etc.), 3D CGI, and stop-motion animation. 

Mommy Poppins is a very good blog on kid-friendly events in the city, and this is what she has to say about NYICFF and BAMkids. I myself don't have much else to add except to urge all parents to go. These fests are both around a decade old, prices are reasonable (especially by festival standards), and they represent some of the best that a resurgent New York has to offer families, with the types of productions for children of all ages that you just can't get on television or Netflix. If nothing else it's worth it for the American premiere of the much anticipated new Wallace and Gromit film, A Matter of Loaf and Death, which premiered on British television this past Christmas season.  

Mary Poppins and the Recession

Move over, Little Orphan Annie. Mr. George Banks is the new face of the current recession. That, at least, is the story in this perceptive BBC News article by Harold Evans. In short, he discusses the stage version of Mary Poppins as an analogy for all the Bernie Madoffs in the current crisis, going on to examine how Broadway itself is losing its luster: shows are shuttering as patrons, particularly tourists, are staying home. And that is certainly true; I have a friend who was slated to be the understudy for Tarzan in Disney's newest stage show, but the whole thing got shut down about a month ago--maybe it will see the footlights in a few years, when he can presumably audition again. But despite the loss of consumers, tickets around 42nd Street remain over $100 a pop, a price tag that has kept me from ever seeing a single show on Broadway in the three years I've lived in New York. Oh, to be a groundling...

Shrek Lives

This is Brian d'Arcy James, on a good night.  He has taken up Mike Myer's mantle as the Scottish ogre originated by William Steig but made immensely more popular by the likes of Jeffrey Katzenberg at Dreamworks. It's now been seven years since the first Shrek hit theaters, launching Dreamworks' animation into global prominence, and it's only fitting they leverage the property to compete with Disney at their newest battleground: Broadway, the street on which this local blogging correspondent lives. 

Not being entirely a Broadway musical-type guy (in three years, total, in New York, all I've seen as yet is Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme, an opera), I haven't been following the details of this production closely. It's spent the last several months in Seattle and began previews here at The Broadway Theatre on November 8. The official opening night will be December 14, with a projected run through May 31. So parents coming through town in that time frame have that alternative to add to Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid. Non-parents are admitted as well.

The book and lyrics were written by David Lindsay-Abaire with the music by Jeanine Tesori. Direction is by Jason Moore, choreography by Josh Prince. I recall that Rob Ashford spent some time consulting with them in Seattle.

The show's website is thoroughly informative, with video, interviews, etc., etc., as well as tickets. Here's a review from Seattle by Misha Berson and another by Gianni Truzzi. Here's the notice on it from Playbill, a guide to all things Broadway. 

Finally, attention all Johnny and the Sprites fans! Although that show had a lamentably short production run you can catch its human star John Tartaglia in the role of Pinocchio. Given his work on Johnny and, before that, on Broadway's Avenue Q and Sesame Street, the fact that he is now playing a puppet must be one of the most ironic career moves in the history, but with that said he does seem remarkably fit for the part. As opening night approaches may he and all others break a leg.

On Designing Playgrounds

The New York Times on Friday ran an article about the new playground at west 116th Street in Morningside Park, which has been open for a few weeks now. Most interesting is to hear from playground designer Alexander Hart (above), who's official title is assistant landscape architect at the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, and some of his philosophies about playground design--such as that it shouldn't construe a single type of imaginative play such as a pirate ship would do--combined with some regulations of the city--such as that all materials must be bulletproof. 

Our family usually spends time in Payson Park and Anne Loftus Playground--the only NYC playground originally designed by the Olmstead brothers of Central and Prospect Park fame--simply because they're closest to our apartment, but visiting New York City's newest park sounds like an interesting adventure to undertake sometime soon.

The Brooklyn Children's Museum Reopens Its Doors

It appears that I'm writing a little series about events in New York City, but I suppose that's because quite a bit is happening. Topping off the Babar exhibit and the Little Red Lighthouse Festival is the reopening this weekend of the Brooklyn Children's Museum, which, after its $80 million facelift, looks like this.


Edward Rothstein wrote a fairly enthusiastic review in today's New York Times. Personally I like children's museums, like those in Edinburgh and Bethnal Green in London, that have displays of childhood memorabilia from ages past in addition to the hands-on activities, and it sounds like Brooklyn has its emphasis on the latter but with a fair amount of the former thrown in. It's also an institution: founded in 1899, it is the oldest children's museum in the United States; the museum website also claims to be the oldest in the world. 

Also note that there's a video included with the Times article. 

Visiting the Little Red Lighthouse

The sixteenth annual Little Red Lighthouse Festival will be held this Saturday, September 20, at the foot of the Great Gray Bridge. Among all New York City’s events for children, this is one not to be missed, and it's happening right in my neck of the woods in upper Manhattan.

In 1942 Hildegarde Swift wrote a picture book, with marvelous illustrations by Lynd Ward, about the lighthouse that sits on Jeffrey’s Hook in New York City, the bank of the Hudson River looking across to the New Jersey Palisades. It was called The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, in honor of the massive George Washington Bridge that looms directly overhead. The relationship between these two structures--most lighthouses do not situate underneath bridges--is the subject of the book. It’s not a straightforward history, of course--that can be summarized simply by saying that the lighthouse was built first--but a story about how the lighthouse felt when it was no longer needed and what it did to start feeling important again (even if it involves a bit of deus ex machina). The analogy for children, who are small and unempowered folks in a world of larger-than-life adults, is obvious yet still beneficial: everything and everyone has a purpose in this world.

An actual history of the lighthouse can be found on its Wikipedia page or in the back the book itself. What's not included in the latter is the fact that the lighthouse was scheduled for demolition in 1951, but outcry from fans, largely young ones, of the book eventually led to its ownership passing to the city's parks department, which resulted in the lighthouse's preservation to the present. That a children's book could have such a dramatic effect on public policy is encouraging. It seems, in fact, that the book was correct: even little people can have an effect in this big world.

In 2003 Vantage Books published a new paperback edition that is fairly easy to find. At sixty-four pages it’s quite longer than your typical picture book, but it can be read in one sitting. We read it a few times before going to the festival last year and Loretta, then three, loved it. She was then trying to spot the G.W. Bridge all the time, whether it were it sight (Fort Tryon Park) or not (downtown). For an even longer time she thought it was terrific she had a book about her own neighborhood.

Here are two views from New Jersey:

The lighthouse--obviously--stays in place year round. The park’s open all the time; my wife Carol regularly runs past it along the path down the Hudson, and often over the bridge itself to Fort Lee and back. What the Festival offers is, first and foremost, a chance to go inside. It is a little lighthouse, so there are free tickets distributed for entrance; last year we were too late to get in. While we don’t intend to repeat that mistake this week, there was still plenty of other activities to fill up our day: a hayride (the highlight of the day), face painting, arts and crafts (several stations), games (also several stations), and even playing in the sand by the river. Dr. Ruth made an appearance to read Swift’s book; while this was poetic, Loretta (who, remember, had read the book earlier that week) was more interested in the hands-on activities. Here’s some evidence of how we filled our day:

First things first... (Loretta wouldn't do or play anything until she looked like a kitty cat.)


"Am I as pretty as my shirt?" (That's facing south, midtown Manhattan in the background.)


Playing with Rose.

Learning to row a boat, dry docked.


The festival, which is free, runs from noon to 5pm. There’s information here and here. The actual location is Fort Washington Park, at 178th St. and the Hudson River. Last year there were good walking directions posted all the way from the A train’s 181st St station (with actual people along the way to assist those still confused). This weekend the A train’s down north of 168th St. but I expect the same service from the free shuttle bus, which runs the same route as the train all the way to 207th St.

Babar in Midtown

I'm glad some people were interested in the illustration exhibit up in Amherst, and to complement that there's news of a similar show much closer to home (at least for New Yorkers). It's "Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors" at the Morgan Library & Museum at Madison and 36th St. 

The show opens on September 19, this Friday, and runs through January 4. It features, according to the September 1 New Yorker (pae 46, but not online), 175 works (mostly watercolors, evidently) by Jean de Brunhoff and his son Laurent, who took over the series after his father's death in 1937. It includes a draft of Laurent's first such effort, Babar et Ce Coquin d'Arthur, and a number of public events: a lecture about the French imagination by Adam Gopnik on November 6 and, even more exciting, an illustrated lecture by curator Christine Nelson on November 21. There's a great deal of information, and some images, on the museum's website. This is an exhibit that is absolutely not to be missed; I think I'll wait until October, though, so I can also catch the only surviving manuscript of Paradise Lost. (Go in September to see some excellent early Bibles and prayer books.)

Babar, of course, is one of children's literature's greatest figures, so I won't add any effusive commentary here. He first appeared in 1931 in the book Histoire de Babar, le Petit Elephant.