BACKYARDIGANS VISIT
Backyardigans dive into adventure
They’ve taken a mission to Mars, danced with museum artifacts, and ventured to the Arctic to find the secret of snow.
Now the Backyardigans are coming to Saskatoon — and not just in their imaginations.
The colourful preschool-aimed cartoon characters, who encourage children to imagine their own adventures, are set to morph into life-size explorers in The Backyardigans: Sea Deep in Adventure.
“It’s exactly as one knows and has come to love those characters,” says Patti Caplette, the show’s artistic director. “We reproduce that and make a new life for them on the stage.”
When writing the show, Caplette watched every available episode of the Backyardigans in an effort to capture Pablo’s goofy malfunctions and Uniqua’s confident leadership skills.
Caplette’s company, Koba Entertainment, has also toured stage show versions of such children’s favourites as Dora the Explorer, Toopy and Binoo, and Max & Ruby.
Caplette’s career began as a dancer, performing with some of Canada’s most prestigious companies, such as Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal.
So, how does one choreograph for performers wearing full-body costumes with oversized heads and blockshaped feet?
“You make everything bigger and bigger,” Caplette said. “You have to be strong. My actors all work out tremendously. We sort of call it the sweatsuit. They come out and they’re just dripping wet after a performance.”
In this incarnation, which first toured Canada in 2009, the Backyardigans decide to be sea rescue officers on an underwater mission. They meet some mermaids, and end up in a beautiful seaweed garden dominated by an unruly octopus.
Caplette says she enjoys the challenge of putting a show together that holds the attention of young children, and engages the rest of the family.
Children are encouraged to cheer on the mermaids and boo at the octopus during the underwater escapades.The actors love seeing little kids’ eyes pop and jaws drop during the show, she says.
“(The best part is) their faces and their response. There’s nothing more honest than a child’s response to something.”
The Backyardigans will hit 43 Canadian stops between February and April.The Saskatoon show is Feb. 5, at 6:30 p.m. at TCU Place.