By Laura Bailey
An afternoon of family-friendly music, learning and laughs is blasting into the Rockwell Theater with a live performance of “The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System.”
“I thought this would be good for Bristol to offer an opportunity for kids to see a live show in a big local theater,” BPRYCS Arts & Culture Supervisor Arianna Therriault said.
“We also want to instill the idea that this theater is here in the hopes that children will remember their experience and want to come back as they get older, just as the generations before them who went to this theater in high school. It’s a memorable experience and we’d love to keep that feeling going for generations to come.”
“The Magic School Bus” is a popular children’s book series published by Scholastic books that centers around Ms. Frizzle and the students in her fourth-grade class. The class frequently board a shape-changing school bus for field trips to the ocean floor, the clouds and inside the human body.
Following the success of the book series, “The Magic School Bus” was adapted into an animated educational television show that ran from 1994 through 1997. A streaming series titled “The Magic School Bus Rides Again” was adapted by Netflix for a new generation of viewers in November 2017.
“It’s a great book and show,” Therriault said, “it encourages imagination, teaches kids to ask questions and can appeal to multiple generations. This show has been around since the ‘90s so the nostalgia for parents with their own youngsters will be an added bonus to a very entertaining afternoon. I did watch the show a little; I think my favorite character is Ms. Frizzle.”
The upcoming show “The Magic School Bus: Lost in The Solar System” is a live musical adaptation of the 1990 book of the same name. Audiences will explore the atmosphere on Mercury, Venus, and Mars while the eccentric Ms. Frizzle guides her class on an epic interplanetary field trip.
Therriault stated that the family-friendly show is a great fit for the historic 620-seat Rockwell Theater, which she considers an ideal venue for a child’s first live theater experience.
“If your children have never been to a live show before, The Rockwell Theater is an excellent choice for a first go at it,” Therriault said.
“The parking is easy-going, our concessions are delicious and reasonably priced; so, if you leave your precious extra snack stash in the car, know that we’ll have the goldfish ready to go; just eat them in the lobby. We want to make this experience memorable and are looking forward to our first show geared toward our future generation of thinkers.”
“The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System” will be held Saturday, March 30, at 3 p.m. at the Rockwell Theater. The performance is suitable for children aged 4-11. Tickets are $20 for children 10 and under and $30 for adults.
Laura Bailey can be reached at lbailey@bristoledition.org
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