Elephant & Piggie leap from page to Brucemore stage

Can an elephant and a pig be best friends?

In children’s book author Mo Willems’ world, they’re not only best friends, they’re best, best, “bestus” friends. And they’re in a play, leaping the characters from page to stage.

This new adventure folds in the outdoor amphitheater behind Brucemore mansion, where you never know what kind of critters you might see and hear. In addition to the usual frog and cricket chorus, ducks flying to their very own Duck Pond, and deer on the periphery, late last week, several people noted on Facebook that they had seen some little foxes nearby.

Onstage, onlookers will see Elephant Gerald and Piggie romp through music and scenes in a day where anything can happen. It’s not just any ordinary day. The besties are invited to a party thrown by the Squirrelles, four singing diva squirrels “who love to have a good time.”

That’s right up Piggie’s alley, but Elephant Gerald worries something could go wrong and doom their friendship. He frets, and she doesn’t.

“Elephant is a very sort of square-like elephant who likes things kind of orderly to some extent, and likes things to make sense, and doesn’t like a lot of change,” director Lisa Kelly said. “And Piggie is a little bit more flighty and a little bit more extemporaneous. She likes fun. They both like fun, but she rolls with things a lot better, and Elephant’s always just like a tiny bit behind it, but trying to catch up.”

Award-winning author and illustrator Willems, 54, who also wrote the play and lyrics, weaves together scenarios from six of his “Elephant & Piggie” series, which dates from 2007 to 2022. Deborah Wicks La Puma wrote the music.

As with “A Year with Frog and Toad,” last summer’s TCR outdoor musical, Kelly said kids and adults who have read Willems’ stories will recognize elements of the lively escapades unfolding onstage and in the audience area. Some of those are folded into songs like “Ice Cream Hero” and “Don’t Go.” And this show description might actually be a warning: The adventure “will leave young audiences doing the ‘Flippy Floppy Floory’ dance all night long.”

In one of the books, the characters realize they’re in a book, so that’s the inspiration for this tale in which they realize they’re in a play, Kelly noted.

“It's kind of a day in the life of Elephant and Piggie,” Kelly said, “and they get together in the morning and want to find something fun to do. But they’re all just a little bit afraid (of having) too much of a good thing. Like, if we’re having too much fun, something bad’s gonna happen. And of course, Piggie says nothing bad will ever happen. But you know what? Something kind of bad happens. And they have to work through it and figure out if their friendship will stand the risk that happens in the middle.

“And surprise, surprise, it all works out.”

Commissioned in 2012 by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Willems explains his process in a delightful video on the Kennedy Center’s website. He likens it to putting together a puzzle.

The end result will appeal to all ages, whether they’ve read the books, heard the books, or read them to their own kids or younger siblings.

“The really littles will just appreciate lots of music and lots of dancing, and preschoolers will know the stories,” Kelly said. “Kara (Ramirez), one of the women in the cast, took all the books off her preschool shelf to give them to me to for research, and her kids were very upset, and wanted to make very sure that books are coming back.”

“And I think because it’s a musical with a developed story and lots of cool dancing, really, any kids and adults are going to enjoy it. I think it's really an all-ages show.”

The key to making it work for the very youngest audience members is to include them, Kelly said.

“Some of the things we’re doing is like, in the choreography, you’ll notice certain moves are repeated a lot. So our hope is that the kids will be able to pick up on that and be able to do the dances themselves and remember them. So doing things that are repetitive and for the kids.”

The TCR troupe also is taking an over-the-top leap with some of the situations common in a child’s world, like temper tantrums.

“When Elephant has a tantrum, he has a tantrum,” Kelly said. “I think kids will enjoy that and maybe even see themselves in that a little bit.

“But we also have found a few jokes along the way that definitely are in for the adults — things that might go over the kids’ heads, but will show the adults that we know they're there, too.”

She said that’s her style.

“I don't ever think about catering exactly to either group, but just presenting the material in as much of a fun way as we can, and just make it high energy the whole time and nonstop the whole time and change things up all the time.“

Kelly, TCR’s associate artistic director, brings a wealth of knowledge to the process, with graduate degrees in theater and experience as a stage manager, dramaturge, producer, and backstage crew member. And yet, last summer was her first foray into directing a show for young audiences, and she was able to bring the lessons from “Frog and Toad” into this show.

“I learned that you have to earn the quiet moments. They have to really be invested in the character, so they will be able to sing a ballad. But if you do, and they are earned, they’re the best moments in the show,” she said.

“You’ve got to have really strong chemistry between the characters, because kids will tell you right away if they don't believe them. They know these characters, so they want the characters they expect to be on stage. And so you have to know the books really well, you have to know the characters really well, and they have to grow organically out of the source material. Obviously, things happen in the play that don't happen in the books, and that's OK, but it has to feel real. Little things like our costumes have strong graphics, like strong lines on them, because Elephant and Piggie are drawn like this. … We’ve actually created more of a world for them, instead of just like a blank canvas.

“We’re trying to sort of make it feel organic and authentic to the books, like they’ll find props to play with and they’ll do things with different characterizations. Because ultimately, they’re kinda like kids playing in their imaginations. It’s important.”

It’s been a fun romp for her and for the cast and crew.

“Every day we get to have fun discussions,” she said, like talking about bubbles and beach balls. “It’s super creative. … We get to go to the limits of ‘What else could we try here?’ It’s always silly and it’s always fun.”

Even when they’re digging into their characters to make them more three-dimensional, and making the relationships between all the characters pop out, while still experimenting with what may or may not work.

“And that’s a really fun place to be in the summer,” she said.

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com