The Phantom Tollbooth

Transcription

1 SHOWTIMES M ARCH 30 APRIL 14, 2013 S ATURDAYS: 1:00 PM & 4:00 PM S UNDAYS 1:00 PM (NO SHOW MARCH 31) SCHOOL PERFORMANCES: W EEK 1: FRIDAY ONLY WEEK 3: WED, THURS, FRI Synopsis: 9:15 AM & 11:15 AM WEEK 2: TUES, WED, THURS I NSIDE THE GUIDE Synopsis Author Bios... 3 Characters & Vocabulary.. 4 Discussion & Classroom Activities... 5 Fun Activities From the Library.. 7 Interview with Norton Juster 8 As the show begins, we are in Milo's bedroom. Milo lays in his room alone. Some classmates of his come to his house and ask him to go to the park with them. He turns them down and they complain that he never wants to do anything. Milo is never interested by anything at all. He hates and is bored by everything, especially school. Three demons appear in Milo's room, though Milo does not know they are there. They are pleased that Milo wants to do nothing and is bored with everything. They are doing their job in making sure of that! As the Demons disappear, a Tollbooth mysteriously appears in Milo s room. There are two buttons on the tollbooth, Continue and Cancel. Milo approaches and figures there is nothing to lose. He presses Continue. The Voice of the Tollbooth gives him some instructions! He pushes a button and receives a coin and another button and receives a map and then his car arrives! He looks at the map and decides to go to the Castle in the Air, by way of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis. He deposits the coin, passes the tollbooth and is on his way! His room disappears, and Milo drives down an unfamiliar road. Milo sees a man on the side of the road and pulls up to him. The man welcomes Milo to the Land of Expectations. He explains that this is the place where everyone must stop before they get where they are going. Many people never make it beyond this place, and this man's job is to hurry them along. He is the Whether Man. Milo asks if the road he s driving on is the right road to Dictionopolis. The Whether Man says there are no wrong roads there so this must be the right one. However, Milo begins to daydream, takes a wrong turn and.falls asleep behind the wheel of his car. The Lethargarians approach and inspect Milo. He asks where he is and they explain he is in the Doldrums, which is where nothing ever happens or ever changes. Thinking and laughing are illegal here. They tell Milo that in the Doldrums they pass the time by eating, napping and procrastinating, which keeps them very busy. The Watchdog, Tock, approaches and the Lethargarians scatter. Tock asks Milo what he is doing there. Milo says he is on his way to Dictionopolis, and Tock tells Milo that he got stuck in the Doldrums because he was not thinking and the only way to get out is to start thinking! With her encouragement, Milo begins to think about anything he can, which gets his car moving again and eventually gets him back on his journey. Tock, who loves chasing cars, joins him. Tock and Milo arrive in Dictionopolis on Market Day. They find themselves in a market where words are being sold and bought. Milo is amazed by how many words there are and how many uses there are for the words. 1

2 Synopsis (continued ) Tock tells Milo the story of Dictionopolis: Years ago there were two princes born, one with a gift for words and one with a gift for numbers. The two princes began to argue and the rift grew so great between them that they each went their separate ways and established their own lands. Azaz became the ruler of Dictionopolis and The Mathemagician became the ruler of Digitopolis. Their sisters; the Princess Rhyme and the Princess Reason, tried to settle the quarrel. They ruled that numbers and words were of equal value. The brothers still could not agree except to agree that this answer from their sisters was wrong! They banished the two princesses to the Castle in the Air. The King's Advisor arrives and leads Milo and Tock to the king. King Azaz agrees with Milo that ever since Rhyme and Reason were banished things seem to make little sense. Milo and Tock say that they want to try and rescue Rhyme and Reason and return harmony to the land. The King is cautious, saying it will be a difficult job. Milo takes a moment to decide if he is brave enough to take on this challenge and decides that he is. King Azaz produces a magic book to give to Milo to protect him on his journey. It is a dictionary! With that, Milo and Tock begin their journey to Digitopolis. The road seems to have disappeared and Milo and Tock are now on foot. They arrive at the Numbers Mine, and Milo is amazed that this is where numbers come from! (Because you have to dig deep for them). The Miners and the Mathemagician teach Milo the importance of numbers. The Mathemagician orders lunch for TWO, but after they eat Milo and Tock feel hungrier than before. They discover that they had eaten Subtraction Stew! After lunch, Milo convinces the Mathemagician to let him try to rescue the princesses, even though the two Kings never agree about anything. This is a huge triumph for Milo! Before they leave, the Mathemagician gives Milo a magic pencil to protect him on the journey, and directions to The Mountain of Ignorance, which they must pass through in order to reach the Castle in the Air. While in the mountains, Milo and Tock encounter the demons again who do everything they can to stop them. The Terrible Trivium tries to enlist Milo and Tock's help in filling his pool using eyedroppers and untangling paper clips, all of which would take forever. The Demon of Insincerity keeps them running around in circles and gives them bad advice. Finally there is the Senses Taker, who tries to bury them in questions and forms. Milo uses his magic pencil and his dictionary to complete the tasks and defeat the demons, who complain that he s not the same Milo they used to know. Finally free from the demons, Milo and Tock ascend the stairs to find the Princesses and bring them back home. When they reach the top, the Princesses are delighted that someone has come to rescue them. They say how clever Milo must have been to get here, but Milo is filled with doubt now since he has no idea how to get them back safely past all the demons. They assure Milo that he has changed from who he once was and can now do anything. The Demons begin to destroy the stairway and Milo, Tock, and the princesses don't know how to get back down. Milo realizes that time flies and Tock, who is a Watchdog, can get them down safely. As they land, the demons move in trying to ambush them. They just about have them surrounded when the kings, and their armies, arrive from Digitopolis and Dictionopolis. The demons are outnumbered and retreat. It is declared that Rhyme and Reason once again reign over both kingdoms and that Milo and Tock are heroes. Milo heads for home and ends up back in his bedroom. The tollbooth is gone, but there s a letter on his bed explaining that now that he knows his way, he no longer needs it and it s been collected for other children to use. Milo realizes that life isn t boring at all and that he has lots of adventures ahead of him. 2

3 Author Bios About the Authors Norton Juster (novel & book of the musical) is an American architect and author. He is famous primarily for having written two children's books, and Dot and The Line. He was born on June 2, 1929, and wanted to be an architect from childhood on. His father was an architect, and Juster's brother became an architect as well. He served in the United States Navy before settling into his architectural career. Juster wrote in the early 1960s while living in Brooklyn, New York. Jules Feiffer, a neighbor of Juster's, did the illustrations. Juster served as a professor of architecture and environmental design at Hampshire College from its first semester in 1970, until his retirement in He currently lives in Connecticut with his wife. Sheldon Harnick (book and Lyrics) was born in Chicago in He started the violin at an early age, and in high school he began to write parodies, sketches, and some original songs. Mr. Harnick served in the Signal Corps attached to the US Marines during the Second World War, and while there also wrote songs and performed. After he got out of the army, he worked as a violinist in Bud Whalen s Dance band, and also got his Bachelor of Music degree at the Northwestern School of Music, where he also contributed to the annual student revue, the Waa Mu Show. In 1950, he moved to New York to try to be a theatre song writer. His first song in a Broadway show was The Boston Beguine in New Faces of In the next few years he contributed songs to On and Off Broadway revues (either writing the music himself or with music David Baker or Lloyd B. Norlin) such as : Two s Company, John Murray Anderson s Almanac, The Shoestring Revue, Shoestring 57, Kaleidoscope, The Littlest Revue, and Vintage 60. He met his long time songwriting partner Jerry Bock in 1956, and shows they are best known for include Fiorello (Tony award), She Loves Me (Grammy), Fiddler on the Roof,(Tony Award), and The Apple Tree, among many others. Mr. Harnick has also written extensively for film, television and opera, and is a recipient of numerous prestigious theatre and music awards for his work. Arnold Black (Music), was born on May 2, 1923 in Philadelphia. He suffered all his life from cerebral palsy, which restricted mobility in his right side. Despite his disability, Black decided to study the violin, and eventually went on to graduate from The Juilliard School with a major in violin and composition. He played in the Casals Festival and the NBC Symphony and eventually became the Assistant Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra. He is best known for founding and directing the Mohawk Trail Concerts in Shelburne Falls, Mass., for over thirty years. Black was composer in residence at the Circle in the Square Theater in the early 1950s, where he worked with the director José Quintero and wrote scores for some acclaimed productions, including Ulysses in Nighttown, based on the James Joyce novel and starring Zero Mostel. Black collaborated on several films with the noted cartoonist R.O. Blechman, and wrote music for the films River Song, Black Harvest, Empire of Reason, and with Eric Clapton, Peace for Our Time. His Concert pieces included a children's opera based on Norton Juster's novel, which had its premiere in 1995 by Opera Delaware. Black died June 25, 2000 at his home in Charlemont, MA. 3

4 M AIN CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY MILO is a bored year old boy who has lost his sense of adventure. That is until he passes through the tollbooth to the lands beyond and is forced to meet trials head on and use his brain. On the journey he discovers a bravery he didn't even know he had. TOCK is a ticking watchdog and loyal companion, teacher, and protector of Milo, and up for any adventure. Other than the alarm clock in his chest, he is a normal dog in all respects. DEMONS (THE TERRIBLE TRIVIUM, THE SENSES TAKER, and THE DEMON OF INSINCERITY ): The three "invisible" sinister figures who try to convince Milo that nothing is worth doing because it's all a waste of time. WHETHER MAN: The eccentric keeper of the 'Land of Expectations' whose job it is to hurry people beyond expectations. AZAZ: The King of Dictionopolis, and the Brother of the Mathemagician. Azaz loves words and thinks they are more important than numbers. ADVISOR(S): A Puffed up advisor to the King of words, who describes himself as the Duke of Definition, Minister of Meaning, Countess of Connotation, Earl of Essence, and the Undersecretary of Understanding MATHEMAGICIAN: The King of Digitopolis, and Brother of Azaz. The Mathemagician has a singular love of numbers and thinks they are more important than words. THE PRINCESS OF SWEET RHYME and THE PRINCESS OF PURE REASON: The Sisters of Azaz and Mathemagician, who are banished when they try to end the feud between their brothers. Rhyme is sweet and winsome and charming. Reason is eminently charming and logical. THE LETHARGARIANS: The people who live in the Doldrums. THE MINERS: The workers in Digitopolis who pry numbers out of the rocks. THE WORD SELLERS; Street vendors in Dictionopolis, who try to sell adverbs, nouns and adjectives to Milo and Tock. Milo can t believe how many uses there are for words! SOME VOCABULARY WORDS found in the play Adjectives Guaranteed Inconsiderate Superior Clever Courage Monarch Wisdom Banished Estimate Perils Proclaim Arbitrate Expectations Ignorance Rigorous Calculate Fantastic Obnoxious Unfamiliar Appropriate Flourish Quarrel Vigorous 4

5 DISCUSSION IDEAS & ACTIVITIES FOR THE CLASSROOM Discussion Questions: Everything is BORING. At the beginning of the play, Milo can t see the point of anything especially school. He s always bored and thinks everything is a waste of time. Have you ever felt that way? What types of activities do you do to keep from being bored? Being a hero. As Milo goes on his journey, he realizes that he is changing, and things that used to bore him are now very interesting. He decides to try to be a hero and rescue Rhyme and Reason, even though it might be dangerous. What does it mean to be brave? What kind of danger would you be willing to go through for someone else? Or would you? Who are the heroes in your own life? Numbers vs. Words which is better? Azaz and the Mathemagician argue over whether numbers or words are more important, while Rhyme and Reason say that they are equally important. Milo doesn t understand why any of it is important until he realizes they are!! Talk about various ways we use numbers and words in our daily lives. Would it be possible to survive without one or the other? The Demons are there to make excuses and to keep Milo from getting anything done but he outsmarts them. What excuses do you use when you don t want to do something you re supposed to? How do you get rid of your demons?? Write a review of the play, describing the scenery, lighting, music, costumes, and performers. How did the scenery help you to know which location each scene took place? How was Digitopolis different from Dictionopolis, for example? How did Milo s room change from the beginning of the story to the end? Did the costumes help you understand who each character was? How did the style of the music help to define the different characters? What was your favorite part of the play and why? Can you draw a picture of it? After the Show Activities Going beyond Expectations Milo is given a map to the lands beyond, and it shows him a world he s never experienced before! Have your students study maps of their region, identifying geographical features. Then have them create their own maps either of real places or imaginary ones like the ones Milo encounters! What type of people might live in those places? What are their customs? (History Social Science). The Princess of Sweet Rhyme only speaks in words that rhyme Try an experiment and have students write about something ordinary (like what they did yesterday) only using rhymes! (English Language arts) Travelling Through Digitopolis: On their way to Digitopolis, Milo and Tock see signs telling them how close they are to Digitopolis, Land of Numbers. One of the signs says that Digitopolis is five miles away, while another sign says it is 316,800 inches away. Come up with a list of different units of measurements such as 10 yards or 200 half inches. Make it a contest! Break the class up into teams and give each team a list of measurements and a ruler or yard stick. Have them use the list of measurements to practice measuring their way from the front of the classroom to the back of the classroom. Change the path by using desks or other objects as obstacles. How do the measurements change using different perimeters? Whichever team gets to the back of the classroom first has made it to Digitopolis and has won the game. (Math Measurement and Geometry). Did you know that The MainStreet Theatre Company has a Facebook page? You are welcome to post your questions about the play, and we will answer them! Or, if you don t need answers, just send us letters letting us know what you thought! And sign up for The MainStreet Scoop to get updates on all the goings on at MainStreet! 5

6 MainStreet s Vegetable Subtraction Stew (borrowed from food.com) All the vegetables in this stew are considered by some to be "negative calorie." That means they re supposed to take more calories to digest than are actually in the vegetable due to the high fiber content. Therefore, we think this makes a perfect Subtraction stew! This soup is made in a HUGE stock or lobster pot and really needs to be cooked for 8 10 hours to get the desired stew like texture. Maybe you can try it and serve the whole class! Ingredients: 6 whole scallions 2 cups fresh green beans, cleaned and cut into thirds 2 cups fresh spinach or 2 cups escarole 5 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces 2 cups chopped tomatoes 1 medium head of cabbage, chopped onto 2 inch pieces 1/2 bunch celery, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 garlic clove 1 red bell pepper, sliced and then cut in half again 1 head broccoli, cut into individual florets 1 cup brown rice (uncooked) 2 (1 1/4 ounce) packages onion soup mix Directions: 1. Cut all vegetables as directed and add to stock pot. Add onion soup mix and add enough water to cover all vegetables. If you have a smaller pot, you will have to half or quarter the recipe to fit your pot. As long as you have enough water to cover your vegetables, you will be fine. Bring to a boil and then add your uncooked brown rice. Add more water as needed during the cooking process. 2. This is best made the day before and allowed to "stew." The flavors will be more intense and less salt and seasoning will be needed. The servings listed is for the full amount of vegetables in a large stock or lobster pot. Fun Activities! Theatre Games Speaking Like an Advisor: In Dictionopolis, Milo and Tock meet King Azaz s advisors. His advisors greet them using a series of synonyms (words having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word) to greet them. Have students practice speaking like the advisors by forming a circle with the whole class. Pick a word that has many synonyms for it like small, then go around the circle and have each student think of a synonym for the word. If the word was small then students could sue words like tiny, miniscule, petite etc. When the students cannot think of anymore synonyms, choose a new word and start again. Acting with Adjectives and Adverbs: The vendors at the Dictionopolis market sell many different types of words including nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs. In this game, designate one person as the narrator and four people as the actors. Using a suggestion from the class about where the scene should take place, have the narrator use as many adverbs and adjectives as possible to narrate the scene and have the four actors act out whatever the narrator is saying. The actors should be able to use the adjectives and adverbs the narrator uses to inform their character and what is happening in the scene. Start thinking! Milo gets stuck in the Doldrums, where the Lethargarians live. Everything they do is deliberate and slow. Tock explains to Milo that in order to get his car moving again, he has to think! This is a movement game where people need to pay attention. Have everyone stand in a circle. Choose one person to start a movement. Everyone should follow his/her lead. When that movement has been going for a while, someone else should begin a new movement the rest of the circle needs to think and begin following the new movement. You can start by designating who will lead next and as you get better at paying attention to each other, the movements can start changing organically. See how long you can keep it up! Read more at: low calorievegetable soup ?oc=linkback 6

7 HELPFUL HINTS FROM THE LIBRARY FROM THE STAGE TO THE THE RANCHO CUCAMONGA LIBRARIES Books serve as inspiration for our imagination, hearts, and for this theater performance! The library is great place for families to continue their theater experience. Families can choose from all kinds of materials including: books, audio books, CDs, magazines, and other materials. Come visit the library for all your learning and entertainment needs! LIBRARY TOUR INFORMATION As part of your class visit to the Lewis Family Playhouse, why not take a tour of the Victoria Gardens Cultural Center Library? Show your students about the wonderful, free resources they have access too and exciting library programming. The Paul A. Biane Library facility has over 100,000 volumes housed in a beautiful, 23,000 square foot facility. Among the facility s unique features: a story theater with a star ceiling made of fiber optic lights, 20 seat technology center, teen study area, and a special performing arts collection. The Paul A. Biane Library at Victoria Gardens has over 1000 books and media in the Performing Arts collections for Adults and Children. PROGRAMS AND FAMILY THE RANCHO CUCAMONGA LIBRARIES The Rancho Cucamonga Libraries offer a full calendar of entertaining, enriching and informative programs for the whole family. Weekly storytimes Family Saturdays Cultural Arts Nights Technology classes Summer Reading Program BOOKS FROM THE LIBRARY If you liked, You ll love these fantastic fantasy stories! The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Shelved under JFIC Baum Alice s Adventures in Wonderland Shelved under JFIC Carroll Song of the Wanderer Shelved under JFIC Coville A Wrinkle in Time Shelved under JFIC L Engle Pre- and post- show tours last approximately 15 minutes and are scheduled on a first come, first served basis. To arrange a tour, please call Lorena Paz, Library Assistant at (909) ext This Curriculum guide was prepared by the staff of the Lewis Family Playhouse. Library information compiled by Library staff. For questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact Mireya Murry Hepner at (909) ext Knights of the Kitchen Table Shelved under JFIC Scieszka Battle for the Castle Shelved under JFIC Winthrop If you have any questions about finding these books or about the library, please call the reference desk at

8 The Curious world of Norton Juster THE INDEPENDENT: Sunday, 20 May 2012 As the children's classic '' turns 50, Daniel Hahn meets the author: Some people are very easy to interview. Norton Juster is not one of them. He's delightful and articulate, but listening to the recording of our time together, it's striking how much more interesting his answers are than my questions. So our conversation entirely failed to resolve classics such as "Where did the idea for your book come from?" and ended up instead about vocational education, bipolar disorder, obscure Edwardian ghost story writers, C P Snow, synaesthesia and the walks Juster used to take with his older brother. In some respects, it's hardly surprising; Juster has been giving interviews about his children's classic for half a century, so might be forgiven for wanting his conversations to roam elsewhere. First published in this country in 1962 and continuously in print since, has more than earned that "classic" tag. Admirers include Philip Pullman, who has written the introduction to the book's 50th Anniversary Edition, and you can recognize someone reared on Tollbooth by the little smirk we give whenever we hear a phrase such as "It goes without saying..." or "He's jumping to conclusions". In Juster's world, Conclusions is an island reached by jumping to it; and Milo travels on a wagon powered by people not talking. ("It goes without saying," the duke explains.) We Tollbooth readers have the book constantly in our minds, our view of the world altered by it, and familiar things wrested brilliantly out of context. (Yep, the land of Context: that's another one.) It's the story of Milo, who is bored. Grown ups expect him to learn things, but nobody bothers to explain why they matter. The whole business of "learning to solve useless problems, or subtracting turnips from turnips, or knowing where Ethiopia is, or how to spell February" just seems terribly tedious. Until one day he gets home to find a parcel awaiting him, containing "One Genuine Turnpike Tollbooth. Easily assembled at home... Results are not guaranteed." So Milo steps into his little electric car, rolls past the tollbooth and finds himself in a very strange place indeed. Though Juster hadn't read Lewis Carroll before writing Tollbooth, Alice is clearly Milo's closest literary kin. He's trapped in a world where logic prevails rigorously, but it's somehow the wrong sort of logic. A signpost points in three directions, all of them indicating Digitopolis. "Is every road five miles from Digitopolis?" Milo asks. "I'm afraid it has to be," comes the reply. "It's the only sign we've got." "I started thinking about it," Juster explains, "and I came to the conclusion that this kid had gone into a world where everything was correct but nothing was right. That was a feeling I understood." Like Milo, the young Juster was a reluctant student, unconvinced by his parents' expectations of him. He grew up in New York with "a super achieving 8

9 older brother who made my life miserable not purposely, just by being there and being so successful." It was from his father that Juster caught the wordplay bug, and Tollbooth is strewn with puns. It seems extraordinary that he's never yet received hate mail from the 30 odd translators who've been tormented by characters such as the Whether Man or Faintly Macabre, the not so wicked Which. The young Juster had synaesthesia, and the book is filled with a blurring of senses words that have a taste, or a maestro conducting an orchestra of colours. He's always had a strong visual sense, he says, which has informed his working life. "When I start to write I have to create visually, no matter how abstract, no matter how undefined. I can visualize things not only the characters but what they wear, how they move and everything. It's not only that I would have been a different writer had I not had that very developed visual sense, I don't think I would have been a writer at all." is still published with its original black and white pen and ink illustrations by the stripcartoonist Jules Feiffer. Feiffer lived downstairs from Juster while the book was being written, and was so intrigued by all the pacing upstairs that he went to ask his neighbour what he was up to. And so the partnership began a partnership that evolved into a playful power struggle. The Triple Demons of Compromise, "one tall and thin, one short and fat, and the third exactly like the other two", are only in the book, Juster explains, as he wanted to challenge Feiffer with something un illustratable. The two men, now both in their eighties, remain close friends. Juster himself is no mean draughtsman. Indeed, for most of his life he has maintained an architectural practice alongside his other assorted jobs teaching, adapting Tollbooth for film, play and opera, and writing books. The Dot and the Line ("a romance in lower mathematics") features his own illustrations, and was adapted into an Oscar winning short by the legendary animator Chuck Jones. And newly released in paperback is Alberic the Wise, a delightful trio of fantastical stories in Juster's inimitable voice. But it's Tollbooth that endures. It satirizes things that, troublingly, remain problems 50 years on; it celebrates things knowledge, language, thought, imagination which need celebrating and fostering in children now more than ever. It's about changing your perspective, says Juster, and "trying to find the ridiculousness in things". Most of all, is one of those books that makes you value curiosity. A bit like having breakfast with Norton Juster. We end up spending the best part of two and a half hours together. He explains why he wouldn't let his daughter wear a digital watch, then ends with a lovely story about an old Norwegian carpenter he knew as a kid during the depression of the Thirties and we're back where we started, on his childhood. But where did the idea for the book come from? He goes without saying. 9