THE FRESH BEAT BAND
Nickelodeon band is big for preschool set
One of the hottest pop acts on the road this year is a group you’ve probably never heard of, unless you have a child of preschool age.
That would be the Fresh Beat Band, stars of the TV series of the same name, now in its third season on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. The Fresh Beats, as they are known to the faithful, launch their first national tour Thursday in Anaheim, Calif. By popular demand, there will be 95 shows, nearly twice as many as were scheduled when the trek was announced in November.
Tickets sold out within a day in Miami, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia and New York City. Desperate parents can resort to extreme measures: On Stubhub, orchestra seats for the New York show are available at up to $2,000 a pop.
Created and executive-produced by the husband-and-wife team of Scott Kraft and Nadine van der Velde, The Fresh Beat Band follows four young adults — two guys named Twist and Shout and two gals, Kiki and Marina — as they study music and solve everyday problems.
The actors all sing, dance and play instruments, and original tunes written by Kraft and van der Velde and other pop composers are incorporated into each episode. Bouncy, wholesome numbers include Here We Go, A Friend Like You and Just Like a Rockstar, which all reached No. 1 on itunes’ children’s songs chart. They’ll be available Tuesday on the compilation The Fresh Beat Band: Music From the Hit TV Show.
Kraft and van der Velde’s younger daughter, Beatrice, now 10, inspired the format. “Years ago, when she started going to birthday parties, we noticed — as we had with our older daughter — that they were themed after older kids’ shows,” says van der Velde. “Nothing awful, but not entirely appropriate — boyfriend/girlfriend stuff, for these kids who were 2 and 3 and 4. So we thought, why not create real characters these kids could interact with?” They still wanted older role models: “Kids these days are very sophisticated, and we wanted a show with a real band who didn’t talk down to them,” Kraft says. Adds Paula Kaplan, Nickelodeon’s executive vice president of talent, “We wanted a visibly diverse cast, with different skills.” The performers certainly boast eclectic and impressive résumés. Thomas Hobson, 27, who plays Shout, performed at Yale Drama School as a university undergraduate; Yvette Gonzalez-nacer, 25, cast as Kiki, also is a theater veteran, and a trained opera singer who began violin studies at age 3.
Newest cast member Tara Perry, 26 — who replaced Shayna Rose as Marina in 2011, after Rose left the show to pursue other career opportunities — has an extensive background in improvisational comedy. Perry recalls that her audition notice called for “a redhead who could sing, dance and play drums. And they wanted someone who was a mix between Lucille Ball and Tina Fey.”
The roles were originally tailored, though, to the company. When Jon Beavers, 27, the stage actor and DJ who plays Twist, auditioned, “he rapped instead of singing,” Kraft remembers. “And we thought, ‘That’s great — let’s throw him in.’ ”
Hobson notes that the producers still, “at the top of every season, ask us to draw up a list of any talents we have that we haven’t yet used on the show.”
Kraft posits that “part of the reason the tour is so popular is that these performers are doing what they do best. And people can tell that they’ll be able to do it live.”
“Kids these days are very sophisticated, and we wanted a show with a real band who didn’t talk down to them.”
— Scott Kraft, co-creator of The Fresh Beat Band