Milam Elementary Magnet will stage “Fairy Tale Mouse Network” Friday at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. at Blackshear Elementary auditorium, 501 S. Dixie Blvd.
No tickets are needed and it is free.
Samantha Leal-Murray is the theater teacher. The plot of “Fairy Tale Mouse Network” is three blind mice and a cat are trying to figure out new programming for their television shows.
It includes a cast of 18 and four run crew members.
“They’re having a hard time trying to figure it out and they can’t find new stories to put on TV. They finally get the idea of having fairy tales that they remember from when they were kids. But none of the three blind mice can remember the full fairy tale, so we wind up having Little Red Riding Hood wearing a yellow cape. We have the Big Bad Wolf getting taken to a no-kill shelter whenever he tries to eat grandma and Little Red Riding Hood, or Little Yellow Riding Hood. We have the Three Little Pigs who went to Home Depot to get the material for their houses. It’s a bunch of just hot mess silliness,” Leal-Murray said.
She said the kids love it because of the comedy aspect.
“They all are trying very hard to make me laugh so I think they have been dying for an audience. They want people to make laugh.”
She had her husband, John Murray, the theater teacher at Bonham Middle School, sit in and give them notes, or pointers. It also allowed him to see what’s coming up when the fifth graders graduate to middle school.
“We also had the principal come and we had the art teacher who created all the props and set pieces, which is Miss Betsy Clark, come see them. They haven’t had a full audience yet. That’s going to happen on Friday,” Leal-Murray said.
She added that she gets to choose a fall production every year that’s around 35 to 45 minutes long.
“I like picking the plays that are the funniest because that’s where the kids get to really play with humor and silliness before the musical comes, which needs a lot of that for that performance,” Leal-Murray said.
The spring musical this year will be “101 Dalmatians Kids.”
Leal-Murray said the students have been rehearsing since the beginning of school.
“They know this show inside, outside, backwards, in between and they have been just wanting that audience aspect. The feel of their energy, the laughter, so I think I’m ready for it and so are the kids. They’re a little bit nervous, but every actor is before a performance but they’re going to do great,” she added.
