This Children’s Theatre premiere aims to give contemporary feel to classic stories
Scientists believe the largest connected organism on Earth may be Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that covers 2,385 acres of Malheur National Forest in Oregon. The rest of the top 10 remains in dispute, but the crew behind “Grimmz Fairy Tales” may be a contender.
It stretches up the East Coast from Charlotte to Brooklyn, where artists from different worlds have put in words, feet, notes and concepts. They’ve labored for 16 months — they’re still tweaking and tuning as you read this — to produce 75 fast-flowing, harmonious and relevant minutes in this world premiere at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte.
The spelling tips you off: The Brothers Grimm collected fairy tales in 19th-century Germany, but the 21st-century team gives them a hip-hop spin. The show’s DNA comes from “Hamilton” as much as “Hansel and Gretel,” producing a stew of rap, R&B, spoken word recitations, dialogue and anything else likely to pin media-savvy youngsters to their seats.
Ron Lee McGill and Rahsheem Shabazz, both Children’s Theatre acting veterans, play the brothers, who serve as emcees. They also teamed with director Christopher Parks, a key figure in the company’s Kindness Project, and longtime Parks associate Naja Morton to develop this idea from an embryo in October 2018 to an energy-filled evening this February.
These months of discussion, stories written and dumped or rewritten, songs composed and abandoned or recomposed, boil down to five words: “What are you gonna do?”
“That question has been one of the most aggravating I’ve been asked (growing up),” McGill said, smiling. “A situation may seem to be beyond you. You want help with it. But what are you gonna do about it?” Added Shabazz, “When you see something wrong, how will you step up? When an opportunity comes to you, what will you do with it?”
Solving problems
That question permeates each story, from “Snow White and the Seven Shawties” to “Down with Rapunzel” to “Hansel and Gretel: Lost in the Hood.” Nobody has a fairy godmother — in fact, nobody uses magic to get out of any dilemma — nor does anyone wait to be swept away by a prince whose wealth smooths over the bumps in life. Characters solve the problems urban kids face with pluck, brains and early steps toward maturity.
Note that all four stories feature females at their cores. Aside from McGill and Shabazz, the actors are women: Isabel Gonzalez, Octavia Hall, Renee Welsh-Noel. This show about breaking down assumptions and preconceptions does that without a traditional hero in its midst. Cinderella now wants to dance at a citywide talent show, not a ball. Nor does she have an evil stepmom and stepsisters; she’s dealing with her parents’ divorce, as millions of kids do while wondering whether the split may be their fault.
The creative team pulled this project off without ever sitting around a table all together. Music director Kofi Osei Williams and his co-composer, Charles Vincent Burwell, worked out of New York. African dance specialist Dyane Harvey-Salaam gave input from Hofstra University on Long Island while telling Parks that Shabazz should become the show’s choreographer.
Strangely enough, this piece began life as something completely different: Parks initially imagined it as an “Alice in Wonderland” riff but said “that show didn’t want to be a musical, and it morphed into a drama.” He suggested the Grimmz idea to Adam Burke, artistic director of Children’s Theatre, and Burke asked the question he likes best: Why do it?
“Kids listen to a lot of hip-hop, though it’s not written for them,” Parks said. “When you look at the storytelling in it and then at the storytelling in these fairy tales, it seemed like a natural fit. I’d met Sheem doing ‘Last Stop on Market Street’ (a Kindness Project play) and knew I wanted to work with him.” Shabazz and McGill, who’ve known each other since high school days, had long talked about creating a hip-hop show, so the trio came together.
“When we pitched (the final concept) to Adam, he committed immediately,” Parks recalled. “He told us, ‘Don’t play it safe. Be crazy. Take a risk, and we will back you.’ That freed us up.” The three operated as equals, firing ideas at each other. Though Parks had final say as director, Shabazz noted, “He doesn’t say ‘No.’ He says, ‘In my experience, if we do that, this is what will happen.’ He has collaborated on dozens of plays, so we listened.”
The project gelled so well that the show will be done in Ohio and New Jersey this year and further across America in 2021. (“Journey to Oz,” which Parks directed for Children’s Theatre in 2016, still travels the country.) The creators will feel free to adjust dialogue, songs, even stories as the play tours.
“I want teachers and parents to be excited about it, not just go because they’re taking their kids,” McGill said. “Someday, maybe kids who hear it now will be taking their own children. We really want this show to be timeless.”
“Grimmz Fairy Tales”
WHEN: Feb. 21-23, Feb. 29, March 7-8 and March 13-15 at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday. Sensory-friendly performance March 8 at 4 p.m.
WHERE: ImaginOn, 300 E. Seventh St.
TICKETS: $15.30-$33.
DETAILS: 704-973-2828 or ctcharlotte.org.
This story is part of an Observer underwriting project with the Thrive Campaign for the Arts, supporting arts journalism in Charlotte.
More arts coverage
You can find all our arts season preview stories and calendars in one place: charlotteobserver.com/topics/charlotte-arts-guide.
Want to get more arts stories like this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the free “Inside Charlotte Arts” newsletter at charlotteobserver.com/newsletters
You can also join our Facebook group, “Inside Charlotte Arts,” at https://www.facebook.com/groups/insidecharlottearts/
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 7:30 AM.