Play based on children’s book coming to Perot
A lively, colorful stage adaptation of “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters” comes to the Perot Theatre on Wednesday for the opening show in the Theatre for Young Audiences season.
Presented by Dallas Children’s Theater, “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters” is based on John Steptoe’s award-winning book about two sisters who travel through the jungle to meet an African king searching for a wife. This stage version of the folktale blends music and choreography.
As part of the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council’s youth programming, tickets are geared toward local school districts. Both the 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. shows are likely to have seating available for the public, however.
Sally Fiorello, show producer and DCT’s national tour director, says the book became very popular via “Reading Rainbow,” finding a whole population of people who loved it.
“As such, it’s very, very popular in schools. Educators use it a lot,” Fiorello said, describing the original tale as a “Zimbabwe Cinderella story.”
Because of their dedication to literacy, DCT often selects stage shows based on books, she explained, and for their twenty-first national tour they chose “Mufaro,” which they’ve toured twice before.
Initially, DCT used the standard script they licensed from the Steptoe trust, presenting it as it was, Fiorello said. But they later decided to elevate the production, “make it bigger, a larger scope of a piece,” she said.
To that end, they commissioned music and lyrics from S-Ankh Rasa. The material was adapted for the stage by Karen Abbott. Choreography was also added.
“Basically, we turned it into an African musical … it basically went from just a story to a beautiful story enhanced by a beautiful score and really amazing choreography,” Fiorello said. This necessitated a search for triple-threat cast members who could act, sing and
dance.
Through the use of what Fiorello called spirit poles, different set pieces are created on stage, meaning the atmosphere on stage can transform. In this way, the scenery changes and adapts. “It is a very fluid piece,” she said.
As part of the production, DCT provides curriculum and study guides for teachers to incorporate into the classroom. Most attendees see the show as part of a school-day audience.
And while theater is its own reward and enhances our enjoyment and understanding of culture simply through the experience, Fiorello said, there are also lessons or themes an audience will detect.
“This particular show really deals with the true essence of beauty,” the producer said, noting how these two sisters’ personalities are vastly different. There’s that age-old lesson of not judging a book by its cover here.
Because “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters” is so colorful and engages the audience with dance, the audience who enjoys it goes right on up to adulthood.
“It is really loved by a vast audience,” Fiorello said. This is an example of the high qual- ity professional theater DCT brings to theatergoers across the country, even to overseas destinations like China.
“In reality, when you’re doing theater and you’re doing it well for an audience locally, expanding that to include a larger community is one of the things that we decided to do several years ago to reach a larger audience,” Fiorello said.
In this way, they expand the sense of community, sort of a natural progression for them, she said.
(Tickets: $7 for the public. For reservations, contact TRAHC’s Kaci Hopper at 903-792-8681.)