Ballet Details

chatter BOX theatre
kids + dance = fun

February 25th, Saturday 4:00pm
February 26th, Sunday 1:00pm & 4:00pm

March 3rd, Saturday 4:00pm
March 4th, Sunday 1:00pm & 4:00pm

Dance performances designed for audiences from ages 4-12
The show is approximately 45 minutes in length and will be followed by a dancer meet & greet and lemonade, milk and cookies for all!

Presented at Festival Ballet’s Providence Studio
Black Box Theater 825 Hope Street.

Ballet Background

Festival Ballet Providence (FBP) will present an original commissioned work for its popular children's series, chatterBOXtheatre. Guest choreographer Boyko Dossev, who has created several works for the company's Up CLOSE on HOPE series, has developed an imaginative and heartwarming piece, Mother Goose Goes to Hollywood.

The chatterBOXtheatre series, designed for children, young and old, is inspired by favorite childhood stories, bringing to life some of literature's most beloved characters in ways you have never before imagined: through dance and theater!

In Dossev's fanciful production, a widower, lonely father, is completely focused on his daughter, Joan. He has no thoughts of remarriage, and is raising his young daughter alone. Without her mother’s touch, Joan is somewhat of a tomboy. After rummaging through the attic together, the father retrieves an old typewriter and Joan joyfully discovers a book of Mother Goose rhymes. Her reaction to the poems inspires her father to write a play with his new found equipment. One of the family’s pets, a dog named Hollywood, sets them into motion, and soon they dream that their story can be brought to life as a film.

They travel to Hollywood in the hopes of selling the script and making a movie. The film studio loves the script, and they begin to prepare for the production. Auditions are held and a cast is chosen. Amid the activity, Joan becomes attached to the actress chosen for the lead role. Her clothes, glamour, and kindness touch Joan. She hopes her father will feel the same way about the actress, but to her disappointment, he does not. As the filming progresses, and the family animals wreack havoc within a big Egyptian scene, but the actress's personality and sense of humor prevail. Thus, the father falls for her. The ballet ends with their wedding, attended by the all of the animals and other characters we have met on the way to Hollywood.

Some of the Mother Goose rhymes that will be included in the performance are Old Mother Goose; A Candle; Pussy-cat and the Queen; Birds of a Feather; Little Jumping Joan; Rain; What are little boys made of; This is the Way; A Star; One to Ten; Ring a Ring O'Roses: Boy and Girl; Humpty Dumpty; Sneezing; and Jack Jingle.