Pinkalicious ~ The Musical! - A Meek Moose Adventure at the Thea"tuh"

So my pal Andrea at Reading Toward the Stars does this Book Talk linky every Thursday.  Which is fabulous.  Because I love talking about books!  But I'm not so awesome ~ I haven't been fabulous at writing blog posts lately, and have never managed to link up with her.  Well! Today is the DAY!  Even though it's Friday.  And her linky is for Thursdays.  Baby steps, kittens!  At least I've got this in within 48 hours of her original posting.

Annnnnnd, her recent post is what kicked me in the butt.  I have had this post sitting in my drafts section since mid-June.  Andrea did a post about a new Pinkalicious book that is great for Back-To-School.  Back in June my sister was doing some freelance costume help working as a over-hire stitcher for Pinkalicious ~ The Musical!!!

When my sister, Traci, first told me about the musical, I was sort of "How can they make that book into a musical?" And this was foolish- because we all know anything can be made into a musical once you've seen the Simpson's episode about Troy McClure's comeback with the Broadway version of Planet of the Apes.

I don't know what this has to do with Mad Men.  But it was the only one I could find that actually had moving video from the episode.  So I'm gonna roll with it.

Anyway- my daughter has always loved pink, and Pinkalicious- so we decided to take her to go see it. She and I discussed the possibilities of how they could have changed this short picture book into an hour and a half musical the entire three hour car ride. (yes- THREE HOURS- three hours of NON-STOP TALKING- where is my Mother of the Year award?)  We were at a bit of a loss.  I just didn't know how they were going to manage it.

Prior to the show, which was at Adventure Theater in Glen Echo Park in Maryland, we went to dinner at an Irish Pub on the grounds before the show. Glen Echo park and Adventure theater are the cutest park and theater EVAH!  The park reminded me of parks you see in movies - carosel horse ride, dancing stage, bright bold colors! I'd like to go again.  Just not drive.  If a limo want to take me, I'm game.

Bangers and Mash, baby!

Just before the show, I was able to snap this picture of the set.  But then I found out that was a real no-no.  Otherwise, I would have filled my camera- everything was super "adorbs".

Which, honestly, is one reason why I don't read Pinkalicious to my kids at school.  I have it in my library, but it never makes it to the read-aloud basket. I try to pick books to read aloud that both my boys and girls can get engaged in.  And I always fear instantly turning the boys off if I sat down in our Living Room area together and said, "Let's curl up together and read this super adorable book, Pinkalicious!

The musical ended up shaming me enlightening my perspective.  It turns out that what the musical DID add in to the story line (and we knew they'd have to add something) was a call to arms against gender profiling. Amazing, yeah?  Ok, maybe I'm stretching the depth of the water here. But! stick with me for a sec.

There's this whole part to the plot line about the younger brother, Peter, and how he is being suppressed by his Dad's old-fashioned convictions on how pink is for girls and not boys.  And of course, little bro deep down LOVES the color pink. So much of the plot is about Peter's transformation into being honest about how he feels and embracing his love for the color. This also ties in to the end of the book where Peter eats so many cupcakes that he turns pink.

I realize from watching this musical that there is a way to get the boys involved in this story just by adding in some global awareness. Thereby opening up the doors for a discussion on being open-minded, taking risks, and challenging social conventions (when appropriate, of course).

Shaaaa- how are you going to manage that, Heather? Like, as if. Whatevs.

Trust me, kittens! Look- Global awareness- There are other countries that do not consider pink a feminine color. India for example.  There pink is a very manly color.  Other Eastern countries do not necessarily feel that pink is feminine.  In fact, it wasn't until after the 1940s that America and England started feeling that pink was feminine.  Up until that point, it was opposite.

Using the simple story of Pinkalicious as an opener for a discussion on whether or not the students think there are some things only boys or only girls should do would be eye opening- and also an opportunity to research those topics to see where the belief could be dispelled.  I remember being younger and hearing only women should cook- but look at all the male chefs on TV today? Art, design, business- all have held some gender bias, but there's so much out there that proves otherwise.  And the inquiry does not have to be bent on girl power- but balanced out so that boys can feel like they are free to explore different avenues as well.

I never really thought that this story could be something I could ever use to promote social change in seven year olds.  But there it is- just because I saw the musical.  I really hope that Victoria and Elizabeth Kann consider putting the musical on film so that it can be shared in classrooms.  In fact, I think I just need to ask them if they would.

I've gotten a little bold since joining Twitter if you haven't noticed.  It was having my tweet favorited by Dave Burgess (TWICE as a matter of fact) and a personal reply from Susan Branch that has clearly thrown me over the edge.  Now, if only Mike Rowe would acknowledge me- it would be all good.

Here were some photo ops with the cast:

Mr and Mrs Pinkalicious

Alison and Peter

Pinkalicious herself!

So, what do you think?  Did hearing about the theme of the musical get you to see Pinkalicious in a new light? What else do you think you could add to the discussion in your classrooms?  have another book you'd like to talk about?  Go link up with Andrea- EVERY THURSDAY (or Friday if you have time management issues like me)