Legend of the Zum Gali Galis

Well, the biggest production I've ever done just finished.

I know have even more respect for the theater directors of my youth! In January, I had 40 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders bouncing around my room excited about the idea of being in a musical. All I had were 4 songs and the basic outline for a story. Trying to dig deep in my Orff Schulwerk roots, we began developing the story and script with the students. With the amazing help of our middle school theater teacher and two other teachers at the school, the story and script were written, many of which the lines were straight out of the kids' mouths. Over each Monday, we added choreography, I designed the costumes and set (that sounds way fancier than it actually was), the students flexed their acting muscles more and more, we met with sound and light crew, weekly visits from the tailor who made the costumes.... whew. A lot goes into a show. Thank the heavens we have so many people at ASB willing to jump in and help with the details. There would have been no way for me to do it all alone.

The show went off perfectly (I was amazed at how focused and ready the students were!) and there were so many happy parents, kids, and staff at the school. And even though I was at school until the late hours all last week painting pine trees and making a paper mache campfire and finding glitter and.... you get the idea.... it was totally worth it. All those fun memories I had being in theater as a kid I got to see being made for my own students. What a gift to pass it on!

Anyway, the story:
Six campers play a mean trick on their new camper friends by telling them the scary legend of the evil Zum Gali Galis. When the campers wake up to find the new campers missing, they fear the worst and encounter strange and magical beings in the forest in a desperate search to save their new friends. The Zum Gali Galis appear and scare the old campers ending with an epic chase scene. When all the old campers are caught at the mercy of the Zum Gali Galis, the new campers pop out, laughing at their friends. The Zum Gali Galis are actually not evil, just different. The campers and all forest beings come together as friends, learning the value of not believing or spreading rumors and to be caring towards all.