"LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD"
It’s a timeless tale, told in tunes. Into Claudia Nygaard's musical adaptation of the classic fairytale "Little Red Riding Hood", she has woven songs that give the story a fresh, new, and often humorous slant, while teaching some important life lessons.
The wolf's lament, "I'm So Blue," points out his failure to be accountable for his choices. Little Red's discovery of the wolf posing as her grandmother in "You Just Don't Seem To Be Yourself Tonight," shows her ability to pay attention to her gut feelings and flee when feeling threatened. "Cranky" alerts children to be conscious of how their emotions influence their decisions, and also stresses the importance of a sincere apology when a wrong has been committed.
Both the songs and the story are
joyous and entertaining, while also providing an educational twist and an opportunity for parents to discuss these lessons with their children afterwards.
SOLO STORYTELLING SHOW
"Little Red Riding Hood" can be presented by theaters as a children's musical with a full cast, (scroll down or click here), but Claudia also performs the show solo as a storyteller for festivals, and those venues and theaters that offer children's programming. Solo, she accompanies herself on guitar, and delivers the narration in character voices. To sample the voices, narration, and one of the songs, watch this six minute excerpt from Claudia's interview with the video podcast "Rendezvous With A Writer". (To listen to the
entire interview click here.)
MULTI-MEDIA SHOW
For venues able to project media, Claudia also performs her solo storytelling show alongside vintage watercolor illustrations created by 20th century artist Eulalie Banks. The video below contains the slides, narration, and songs of her solo performance. Permission for the use of the slides has already been granted.
THEATRICAL PRESENTATIONS
Theaters can present "Little Red Riding Hood" with or without Claudia as the narrator. These photos are from the October 2023 production presented by the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans, MA. A full video was shot of the performance and is in the process of being edited. For more information or questions about the script or play, or for a link to watch the video, contact natural talent booking (AT) gmail (DOT) com. (no spaces)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Claudia was only a teenager when she first fell in love with theater. Performing in summer stock, high school, and community theater productions, planted the seeds that led her to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater from San Jose State University in California. Her concentration was in costuming then, but her love of writing was well nurtured in her teens as well, and after three years as the weather news anchor for KNTV Television in San Jose, she followed her heart and climbed into the van of a handsome curly headed songwriter because she thought “it would fun to sing with him for the summer.” Little did she know that decades later she would still be singing, and that her writing skills would win her several awards and land her a job as a staff songwriter on Nashville’s Music Row. Even further from her mind was the possibility that all these years later, Nygaard would come full circle back to theater, not as a costumer, but as a writer and composer.
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COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS: Claudia will work with children's advocacy organizations or law enforcement agencies to offer a "post-show" discussion on the lessons featured in the performance. Topics for conversation with the audience of "Little Red Riding Hood" would be "stranger danger", boundaries, accountablity, and remorse and forgiveness.
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SONGWRITING WORKSHOP: A former salaried songwriter on Nashville's famous music row, Claudia teaches the craft of songwriting to all ages. She offers one on one instruction on the construction of a song, writing better lyrics, creating better melodies, learning new rhythms, where to find inspiration, and how to critique your own songs.