By Ben Cox – There is an old theater saying that goes “Never work with animals or kids” but apparently neither Billie Harvey nor Aaron Terry have heard it. This is the third year in a row the pair have worked together on the kids camp for the Lyric, and the fourth for Harvey who is also the Bangs High School theater director.
This summer the older group of kids will be presenting a favorite of Harvey’s, Monty Python’s Spamalot Young at Part. “It’s Monty Python but family friendly” according to Harvey. “Eric Idle did the cutting of the show to make it available for young performers.”
The younger children, directed by Woodland Heights music teacher Aaron Terry will be performing Disney’s Sleeping Beauty: Kids, which is a streamlined, simpler version of the classic tale.
Both shows are musicals adapted from famous films, Spamalot adapted from Monty Python and The Holy Grail and Sleeping Beauty from the famous Disney cartoon.
Harvey plans to stay true to the source film, and it’s iconic artwork. She says “I want to use a lot of the original artwork that Terry Gilliam used, like the cloud shape, the feet of God, the hand of God, the way the Grail looks. We want to keep that alive, but with some of our own twists.”
Terry says that he worked closely with Harvey in planning his show to be able to reuse set pieces. “I tried to think what could I do that would flow right into mine. She’s going to have a castle, so Sleeping Beauty was a no brainer!” Terry also tried to make different casting choices year to year. “Last year I did Tom Sawyer, which is a male lead, so this year I chose Sleeping Beauty to have a female lead.”
When asked what keeps them coming back summer after summer, both agreed that they love it. Harvey says “I just have fun, and I honestly get to learn a lot from him and take it back to my own department.” Terry echoes her sentiment, saying “I’ll often ask myself what would Billie do!”
Another enjoyment for Harvey is discovering hidden talent in younger kids. “I think the best part is finding those diamonds in the rough. The kids you don’t suspect much of turn into little dynamo’s!”
Spamalot runs from July 27th through the 29th, and Sleeping Beauty is from August 3rd through the 5th. Each show will have a 7:30 performance on that Friday night and 2:30 matinee’s for the other two days.
