Costumes and Jamaican culture characterize the latest family-friendly show from the Bay Area Children’s Theatre, but what audiences will remember most is the music. That’s because we all have heard much of it before — in the form of tunes from Bob Marley.
“Three Little Birds” is based on a story by Marley’s daughter Cedella and features some of the Rastafarian legend’s most famous reggae songs, as well as a host of new music that fits right in with the Jamaican vibe. It opens this weekend at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, then moves on to performance spaces in San Francisco, Mill Valley and San Ramon.
In a nutshell, the show is a modern-day fairy tale about a boy growing up in Jamaica. The boy, appropriately named Ziggy (which also is the name of Marley’s oldest son), wants to stay inside all day and play. Over the course of his onstage journey, he realizes that the real adventures on his island can be found outside, amid the birds and jungles and beaches.
Some of the show’s standout numbers incorporate reggae classics: When the boy receives a kiss on the cheek from a girl character, he stops to sing “Is This Love.” Toward the end of the show, when all of the characters come together onstage, they sing Marley’s “One Love.” Additional original music was written by John L. Cornelius II.
Whether you’re grooving to new tunes or old ones, Nina Meehan, executive director of the Bay Area Children’s Theatre, said it’s almost impossible not to sing along.