I’ve had it up to ^here with Elmo. bleh bleh ptooey.
My twins are 2 now and starting to really imitate what they see, which is both entertaining and frightening. And they really love music.
So what can we watch together? That doesn’t involve spastic animation and extensive merchandising?
I showed them parts of The Music Man the other day & they seemed to enjoy it, marched around the room a bit - little Ronnie Howard singing about the Wells Fargo Wagon really caught their attention.
My next favorite would be West Side Story (minus the ending).
Of course, there’s Annie, not sure if I can stomach that one.
Should I just dig up some Shirley Temple movies from the library?
I would. If nothing else, they can laugh at how “old-fashioned” everything is. In terms of what they might like:
Peter Pan (the musical, not the disney and not the recent movie–though both are good)
You might try Guys and Dolls, as they speak really funny and the whole crime thing will probably whoosh them.
Personally, I think the “Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin” group is great for kids, merchandising and “evil Disney” aside. Wouldn’t hesitate to show those to anyone.
On the Town is Super – They’ll miss a bunch of the romance stuff, but great dancing and super songs by Bernstein, Comden and Greene!
Not sure what else to tell you. Most of the Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney things are corny, but not awful. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers isn’t bad–though may prove boring. Some of the older Gershwin and Berlin musicals that were filmed in the 30’s and 40’s might play well and are safe enough.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks is something they might enough, assuming the ghosts at the end don’t scare them. And the songs really aren’t that bad(assuming you can keep the kids from nodding off towards the end of “Portabello Road”).
The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz are some kids would proabably like.
When I was a kid (older than two, though) I couldn’t get enough of Pirates of Penzance or 1776.
I recommend most of the Disney catalog of animated stuff. Not anything from ~1974-1986 or anything after Lion King (except The Emporer’s New Groove and Lilo & Stitch).
Disney became “evil” in 1994.
My son adored both *Cats *and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat when he was little. He also liked Into the Woods and Sunday in the Park With George, though, so he’s a little weird. (Not that there’s anything wrong with Sondheim, I just wouldn’t expect a 5 year old boy to like him!)
However, we ran into a bit of trouble when I was in a production of Jesus Christ Superstar and he came along to rehearsals. He was an angel, sitting in the house and coloring his books. We didn’t realize how closely he was listening until I took him shopping one day and, in the middle of the grocery store, he started singing songs from the show. His favorite bit? “This Jesus must Jesus must Jesus must DIE!!!” :smack: I asked him to please pick something else. He obliged: “Crucify him! Crucify him! Crucify crucify crucify crucify! Crucify him!” at the top of his piping shrill little lungs. :smack: :smack:
Thanks for the suggestions! Singing in the Rain would be perfect timing in another month or so, once we’ve had some serious puddle time.
I tried showing them Chitty Chitty Bang Bang a while back & it went nowhere, same with Aladdin and The Aristocats. So I’m not one of those devoted Disney haters, just looking for something different. That I would also enjoy.
No way I’m digging up a copy of The Wizard of Oz, though – are you on crack? :lol:. I have a hard enough time dealing with those flying monkeys myself, no way am I going to tackle that one with two 2-yr-olds.
I’ll suggest Fred Astaire, just because I always suggest Fred Astaire. You might consider Royal Wedding, which isn’t a particularly good movie, but which has two wonderful dance numbers: in one he dances with a hat rack, and the other is the famous one where he dances on the ceiling.
Also amongst his lesser-known gems: Damsel in Distress, with Burns and Allen – part of it takes place at an amusement park and there’s a very fun dance number done on moving walkways, etc., with the three of them.
You can try those awful Elvis musicals from the 60’s – they are “mostly harmless” as the saying goes with some fun musical numbers in them.
I forgot ALW’s early stuff, yes, the DVD of Cats isn’t so sleep inducing as an actual production, and it is a great excuse to read Eliot to the tykes. My daughter used to force me to sing “Joseph” all the time (and by that I mean the original Sceptre recording, which I fortunately knew nearly by heart–and filled in the blanks to oblige her on long trips and at bed time. It subsequently became a favorite of my Neice and Nephew when they came to live with us as well – sort of a family event that could easily kill 45 minutes–and not a bad warm up either).
My daughter is 7, and I’ve raised her on a pretty healthy diet of musicals. Her favorites are Singin’ In The Rain, Brigadoon, The King And I, The Music Man, My Fair Lady, The Court Jester, and (monkeys and all) The Wizard of Oz. I also let her borrow one of the tapes from my Gilbert & Sullivan video series, and she then proceeded to confiscate the entire set. Her favorite is Iolanthe.
When I assisted the teacher of a kindergarten class, she played them, the album from the Danny Kaye musical Hans Christian Andersen, which the tykes seemed to like a lot. This was back in 1970, so no movies could be viewed on the television, but they liked the music. They even performed a little school musical to it.