THE LOLLI-POPS   Role: Buzz the Bee   Production Info: October 13-14, 2001 @ Florence Gould Hall Production Info: November 3-4, 2001 @ Florence Gould Hall Production Info: October 19-20, 2002 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: November 9-10, 2002 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: November 23-24, 2002 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: January 11-12, 2003 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: October 25-26, 2003 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: May 15-16, 2004 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: January 7-8, 2006 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: October 21-22, 2006 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: November 17-18, 2007 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: December 1-2, 2007 @ The Kaye Playhouse Production Info: February 9-10, 2008 @ The Kaye Playhouse Conductor: Dino Anagnost Director/Choreographer: Annette Jolles   The initial Lolli-Pops production of the 2002 Fall Season, The Orchestra: A Happy Family, was taped live at the Kaye Playhouse (for the first time ever!) and has been released on home video! The VHS/DVD of this production (the first in the Mister Maestro home video series) can be purchased via the Ron DeStefano Online Shop!

The Lolli-POPS is a wonderful concert program designed to give young children (ages 3 to 5) their first introduction to classical music. Four crazy animals, each representing a different section of the orchestra, along with “Mr. Maestro” Dino Anagnost, help teach the little listeners all about the basics of music appreciation. I played the role of Buzz the Bee, the leader of the brass section, joined by Bow the Panda (strings), Toot the Bird (winds) and Bang the Lion (percussion). It’s always wonderful to get to perform with a full orchestra, but it’s even more special when you get to introduce wide-eyed children to an orchestra for the first time!   Click on this link to read more information about the Little Orchestra Society.

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Buzz the Bee (that’s me!) demonstrates the tuba’s tubing in the home video version of The Orchestra: A Happy Family.

Toot the Bird (Robin Higgenbotham) toots along with the flute in the home video version of The Orchestra: A Happy Family.

The four animals (Robin Higgenbotham, Eric Jackson, Kim Hendrix, and I) dance the Can-Can to Offenbach’s Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld)

The Grand Finale...the animals dance “The Lollipop Song” by Ross and Dixon.

Here’s a close-up of Buzz the Bee from the 2002-2003 season flyer.

James Gandolfini (of Sopranos fame) came to visit Things That Go Bang! in Fall 2002 with his son.

Bang the Lion (Thom Christopher Warren) and Buzz the Bee (that’s me!) are the two stars of Things That Go Bang!

Here’s the whole cast of the first LolliPOPS show of the 2001 season: those costumes are some serious pieces of work!

It’s Robert Rokicki as the lovable Bang the Lion, leader of the Percussion family!

“I’m Buzz the Bee, the snazziest Bee you’ll ever see!” Or at least until I start sweating in this costume!

Backstage at the video filming...Eric Jackson, Robin Higgenbotham and Kim Hendrix.

Toot and Bow chillin’ backstage during some downtime during the filming of The Orchestra: A Happy Family.

 
 

AWARDS for The Orchestra: A Happy Family Three Dove Rating from the Dove Foundation 3 Omni Intermedia Awards - 2 Silver, 1 Bronze      — Best Children’s Entertainment Video, Best Direction and Best Educational Video Bronze Telly Award for Children’s Programing 2 Gold Aurora Awards — Children/Youth Video and Art/Culture Instruction Video Film Advisory Board Recommendation and the 2003 Parents’ Choice Recommendation Award

NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 7/28/2003 by Susan Avery   If you want your preschooler to be ahead of the game in music class this coming school year, then get him a copy of The Orchestra: A Happy Family. After decades of capturing the fascination of young audiences in New York City, the Little Orchestra Society offers its first DVD/VHS production to foster a love of classical music. The show introduces the instrument families along with a colorful cast of animals and a wise maestro to explain it all. Lite excerpts include Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Mozart, and Sousa. Our test-run proved worthy.

PARENTING MAGAZINE, 10/2003 by Susan Avery   Not since Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts has music for kids sounded so sweet. The first performance of New York City’s acclaimed Lolli-Pops Concert Series, the program features full-size characters (Toot the Bird, Bang the Lion) who introduce viewers to musical instruments and compositions by the masters.

...from Elayne Blythe, President of the Film Advisory Board   [The video is] “a great way to teach children about the instruments of an orchestra! It's wonderful how Mister Maestro and his cast of characters interact with the live audience of parents and their children during the concert within the DVD. Children love to be involved! The DVD additions - the Quiz, the family album, which introduces each instrument in the four sections of the Orchestra, and the viewers’ ability to go to particular song selections is great and the concert is fun! The Orchestra - A Happy Family offers a charming way for parents to spend time with their children while exposing kids to the wonderful world of music.”

...from the Dove Foundation “The Orchestra: A Happy Family is a spectacularly enjoyable journey into the world of instruments. Each of the four characters represent a different section of the orchestra and each of the sections are described in detail and demonstrations are given. This is a wonderful way for kids to learn to love music of all kinds. The whole orchestra comes together to play a combination of classical and fun music that is enjoyable for both the children and the adults watching. The Orchestra: A Happy Family is a great way to learn about the orchestra and all its components.”

...from The New York Times “… in an era that has seen a complete abdication in providing music education… I was unprepared for how lovingly rendered these entertainments would be…”   “Concerts that are a model of their kind.”

...from ABC-TV “… a New York tradition known for its outstanding gifts of music to audiences of all ages.”

...from New York Magazine “We love the Little Orchestra Society. And so will your kids.”