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Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live! on NBC

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Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live!  on NBC

Happy Holidays (okay, it’s a little early, but covid….)

Pretty soon, all of the holidays special will begin and luckily, this year is no exception.

On December 9, there is going to be a live version on NBC of the Broadway musical, “The Grinch”!

How awesome is that?

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

(Yes, I know this photo is from the movie.)

Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live! on NBC

#1  THE PLOT

If you don’t know the musical, (because you’ve been living in a cave or something) the story goes like this:

The action of the musical happens in mysterious Whoville. Christmas is a wonderful holiday, which is adored by all the residents of the fantastic town. Who doesn’t love this time of the year, when everything around is covered with fluffy snow, when we feel a smell of a fir-tree, and people exchange with magnificent gifts? Therefore, on the eve of the holiday, the inhabitants are concerned about purchases of the gifts, decoration of the houses and, of course, preparation of dishes for the holiday table.

Once upon a time, a man lived in a town. His was called Grinch. His body was green and hairy. That’s why nobody in the Whoville loved him. The main hero took offense on the inhabitants and decided to live on the lonely mountain, which was blown by winds. A dog was an only being, who kept his company. On this mountain, he sat in a cave and was angry at the whole world.

Breakfast with the Grinch 11-2010

Breakfast with the Grinch from vastateparkstaff

Grinch hated Christmas most of all. While the population of a town had fun with all hearts, the indicator of already bad Grinch’s mood expressed something awful. Each Christmas appeared to be a terrible torture for the green hermit. One day, a spiteful inhabitant of the mountain decided to finish a holiday once and for all. While the carefree Whovilleans were sleeping in holiday night with pleasure, perfidious Grinch decided to steal Christmas from the citizens, to make nobody able to have fun anymore.

Now, as well as the residents of the town, Grinch is in cares: he needs to prepare an ideal crime, that nobody could follow his ways. Two teenagers and two girls got on the mountain, where Grinch lived, and it finally angered him. He left the cave, put on a fancy dress and went down to the city, where he began to frighten everyone, who occurred on his path. What to do, if the circumstance, which is hard to cope with, unexpectedly interferes into the plans of Grinch? To speak more precisely, it is the little girl, who even wants to make friends with the character.

Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live on NBC

The girl, who helped the father with mail, was frightened so much that she fell in the packing machine, but then, probably, Grinch felt sorry and pulled her out. Cindy thanked him. Being raged by the fact that someone can think that he is kind, Grinch wrapped her with the tinsel. Then the girl thought that, maybe, Grinch is not so bad as everyone speaks about him. She also absolutely cannot understand the sense of Christmas and wants to reconcile him with the residents. However, finally, Grinch realizes that sense of Christmas is not in gifts. The repentant villain decided to return the gifts to the inhabitants, and they accepted him to their society.

#2 MATTHEW MORRISON

Matthew James Morrison will portray Grinch! Morrison is an American actor, dancer, and singer-songwriter. Morrison is known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray  on Broadway, and for his role as Will Schuester on the television show Glee. He received a Tony Award nomination for his featured role as Fabrizio Nacarelli in the musical The Light in the Piazza.

#3 DENIS O’HARE

Denis O’Hare will play his dog, Max.  O’Hare is an American actor, singer, and author noted for his award-winning performances in the plays and musicals such as Sweet Charity,  as well as portraying vampire king Russell Eddington on HBO’s fantasy series True Blood. He has been nominated for an Primetime Emmy for Best Actor.

Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live on NBC

#4 THE COSTUMES

Personally, I think the costumes from the film version were exceptional.  I don’t know if they can reach that level of detail, but I’m interested in seeing if they do so.

#5 THE CHOREOGRAPHY

From viewing the snippet on NBC, I can tell the choreography is fun and playful.  That’s got to be a plus, huh? Here’s a trailer for the show:

https://www.today.com/popculture/nbc-bringing-grinch-life-new-musical-holiday-special-t198362

As you may know, several musicals have been performed live in recent years.  In my opinion, some were better than others.  I enjoyed NBC’s Hairspray and Jesus Christmas Super Star the most.  I would hope these production companies are learning how to produce a better product each time they attempt one.  Who knows?

Another was good production was  A Christmas Story.  In case you don’t me, I am a retired drama teacher having taught and directed for thirty-eight years.  You can find my resume here:Teaching Resume

A Christmas Story Broadway Musical Lesson

Now I created drama education resources for my business, Dramamommaspeaks.  I have a lesson about A Christmas Story which would complement the Grinch Live! If you are in a hybrid learning classroom or distance learning, these musicals work well for teachers.

You can find it here: A Christmas Story Broadway Musical Lesson

Five Reasons to Watch The Grinch Live on NBC

Need a quick emergency lesson plan? Or one for a substitute? Everything is provided for the busy teacher.

This Product includes:

  • Letter to Teacher
  • Two Warm Ups–MY Version of Popular Exercises
  • Teacher’s Script–what I say and how I say it!
  • Photos of the Production
  • Separate File of Slides for Teacher to Use to Lecture
  • Plot of the Musical
  • History about the Origination of the Production
  • Information concerning the composer, Pasek and Paul (who also co-wrote Dear Evan Hansen)
  • History about the Film and Musical Helping One Another
  • A Shortened Lesson on : What are the Tony Awards?
  • Tony Awards it Received
  • What are the Tony Awards
  • New York City Map with Competing Theatres Labeled
  • Student Note Page
  • Teacher Note Page Key
  • Trivia
  • Quotes from the Musical–Good for Discussions and Assignments
  • Extension Activities–Five different activities, individual and group
  • Sources & Links to Film Clips from the Show

This lesson works well with any grade level, although it was created for secondary students.  Reading, Language Arts, Vocal Music and Drama classes have success with it!

Or pick up my holiday lesson bundle at: Drama Lessons Holiday Themed 

I hope you’ll check out Grinch on December 9 and think about purchasing my Broadway lesson on A Christmas Story.  If nothing else, both will put you in the holiday spirit!

Which Grinch character is your favorite?  Mine is Max.  I’d love to hear from you.  Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Deborah Baldwin of DramaMommaSpeaks

 

 

Creative Dramatics Lessons That Kids Love

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Creative Dramatics Lessons That Kids Love

Dramamommaspeaks Blog Author Deborah Baldwin

Hello!

Today, I wanted to blog about Creative Dramatics Lessons That Kids Love. You may not know me or be familiar with my work.  I’m Deborah Baldwin (but my friends call me Deb.)  I am a recently retired award-winning drama teacher of thirty-eight years.  In that time, I directed over 250 plays and musicals with students and adults as well.  I taught every grade level, but the bulk of my time was spent with secondary students.

Here is my resume if you’d like to see it:

If you’d like a free guide And lesson plan from me, click here LESSON PLAN

Creative Dramatics Lessons That Kids Love

My Teaching Style

Drama is a hands-on class. To this end, I’m always on my feet, modeling for my students while teaching them a host of concepts. It is not unusual to hear my classroom in chortles of laughter because humor is an outstanding way to gain a student’s attention. I empower students at an early age. Although I am always mindful of my learning objectives, I think it’s vital for students to experiment within the confines of my instruction.

I encourage students to be independent and creative thinkers. Many less confident or reluctant students benefit from my teaching methods as together we hit the challenges they encounter. I am creative, intense, driven and brave–these are qualities I nurture in all my students and generally receive outstanding results.

Creative Dramatics Lessons for Elementary Grades by an Award Winning Drama Teacher

If you need some warm ups for your class, whether a core or drama class check out Theatre Games Guide

Strengthening Reading Comprehension Skills

When I was researching this blog post, I found a wonderful site,  http://www.understood.org.  They discussed the reasons for reading aloud (aka drama class!):

1. Decoding

Decoding is a vital step in the reading process. Kids use this skill to sound out words they’ve heard before but haven’t seen written out. The ability to do that is the foundation for other reading skills.

Decoding relies on an early language skill called phonemic awareness. (This skill is part of an even broader skill called phonological awareness.) Phonemic awareness lets kids hear individual sounds in words (known as phonemes). It also allows them to “play” with sounds at the word and syllable level.

2. Fluency

To read fluently, kids need to instantly recognize words, including ones they can’t sound out. Fluency speeds up the rate at which they can read and understand text. It’s also important when kids encounter irregular words, like of and the, which can’t be sounded out.

Sounding out or decoding every word can take a lot of effort. Word recognition is the ability to recognize whole words instantly by sight, without sounding them out.

3. Vocabulary

To understand what you’re reading, you need to understand most of the words in the text. Having a strong vocabulary is a key component of reading comprehension. Students can learn vocabulary through instruction. But they typically learn the meaning of words through everyday experience and also by reading.

What can help: The more words kids are exposed to, the richer their vocabulary becomes. You can help build your child’s vocabulary by having frequent conversations on a variety of topics. Try to include new words and ideas. Telling jokes and playing word games is a fun way to build this skill.

Creative Dramatics Lessons for Elementary Grades by an Award Winning Drama Teacher

4. Sentence Construction and Cohesion

Understanding how sentences are built might seem like a writing skill. So might connecting ideas within and between sentences, which is called cohesion. But these skills are important for reading comprehension as well.

Knowing how ideas link up at the sentence level helps kids get meaning from passages and entire texts. It also leads to something called coherence, or the ability to connect ideas to other ideas in an overall piece of writing.

What can help: Explicit instruction can teach kids the basics of sentence construction. For example, teachers can work with students on connecting two or more thoughts, through both writing and reading.

Making Connections: Using What They Know to Understand

5. Reasoning and Background Knowledge

Most readers relate what they’ve read to what they know. So it’s important for kids to have background or prior knowledge about the world when they read. They also need to be able to “read between the lines” and pull out meaning even when it’s not literally spelled out.

What can help: Your child can build knowledge through reading, conversations, movies and TV shows, and art. Life experience and hands-on activities also build knowledge.

6. Working Memory and Attention

These two skills are both part of a group of abilities known as executive function. They’re different but closely related.

When kids read, attention allows them to take in information from the text. Working memory allows them to hold on to that information and use it to gain meaning and build knowledge from what they’re reading.

What can help: There are many ways you can help improve your child’s working memory. Skill builders don’t have to feel like work, either. There are a number of games and everyday activities that can build working memory without kids even knowing it.

Creative Dramatics from an Awarding Winning Drama Teacher

Maybe you are researching Back to School lessons. Or you are looking for drama units, lessons and plays for your elementary students. Or you want to save yourself time? 

I can help you. 

Here is my opinion about expectations of our elementary students. My Pet Peeve

Here are a few of my lessons for elementary students:

It Could Always Be Worse Readers Theater

Each lesson comes with a teacher’s letter, procedure, a warm-up, materials list, teacher’s script and assignments.

Recently, I created fifteen minute radio theater plays for grades 3 to 5.  These are royalty free, too! 

Recently, I created fifteen minute radio theater plays for grades 3 to 5.  These are royalty free, too!

I hope you’ll check out my creative dramatics lessons.  My thirty-eight years of teaching drama education serve me well in creating these lessons and/or adapting some which I all ready used in the classroom.

Have you taught creative dramatics with your students?  I’d love to hear about it.  Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Looking for a freebie or two?  Go to:

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