Lesson Overview:

In the musical, Into the Woods, Jr., Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine have combined several familiar fairy tale characters and their stories. In this lesson, students create the music for a mini-musical based on The Frog Prince by the Brothers Grimm and Jon Scieszka's fractured tale, The Frog Prince Continued. In groups, students improvise musical scenes through a variety of musical improv games. Using the opening number of Into the Woods as a model, the class will combine all of their pieces to create a mini-musical. The final product will be presented to the class and on audio and video tapes.

Length of Lesson:

Two 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for students in grade 5.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• define the meaning of the words "score," "libretto," and "lyrics."
• listen to and/or read the Prologue of Into the Woods.
• review the student-created, nine-line scripts from the lesson, Fairy Tale Variations.
• use a variety of musical styles to sing the nine-line script of Cinderella.
• play music improvisation games and create lyrics and music for the Grimm Brothers' tale, The Frog Prince.
• play music improvisation games and create lyrics and music for scenes of The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka.
• present their scenes to the class.
• edit and record their improvisations in script and audio/video forms.

Instructional Plan:

Warm Up

Define these words:

• score: the music and songs of a musical
• lyrics: the words to a song
• libretto: all of the words that are sung in a musical or opera

Introductory Activities

Listen to the "Prologue" of Into the Woods. Students should have their notebooks and pencils ready to note patterns of words or music.

After listening to the recording, students should name the characters and identify each of the characters' wants or desires. The characters are:

• The Narrator (who wants to tell the story);
• The Baker (who wants to break the Witch's spell so he can have a child);
• The Baker's Wife (who wants to help her husband so she can have a child);
• Jack (who wants to keep Milky White, his cow, even though he must sell her);
• Jack's Mother (who wants to convince Jack to sell Milky White);
• Cinderella (who wants to go to the festival);
• Stepmother (who wants to prevent Cinderella from going to the festival);
• Florinda and Lucinda, Cinderella's stepsisters (who want to boss Cinderella around);
• Little Red Riding Hood (who wants to get her goodies to grandmother's house); and
• Witch (who wants the Baker and his Wife to find four things for her in three days).

Instruct students to reflect for a few minutes. Write these questions on the board.

• How did Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine use music and words to set up their story?
• Were there any patterns, such as repeated words or melodies, that maintained the flow of the piece?
• Were the wants of the characters clearly stated in the Prologue?

Discuss observations. Record some on the board.

Developmental/Guided Practice

If possible, have students listen to Peter Gabriel's song, "Kiss That Frog" from the album Us. (Note: You may wish to preview the song before playing it for students.) The song lyrics tell the tale of The Frog Prince in a five-minute rock song. Ask the students to identify the patterns Gabriel uses in music and words to get his story across.

Give four groups of four (if possible, three girls and one boy) student volunteers the opportunity to improvise a musical style, using the nine-line version of Cinderella used in the Fairy Tale Variations lesson. The lines are on the Sentence Strips handout.

Give each team a musical style: Opera, Rap, Country, and Rock. Do not give the students time to rehearse. They must simply improvise. Encourage students to stick to the style they have been assigned. The class should note any repetition of musical and word patterns.

Independent Practice

Divide the class into four groups. (Use the same groups from the Fairy Tale Variations lesson.) The groups will play musical improvisation games. They will need the nine-line sentence scripts they made in Fairy Tale Variations.

Each group will use a musical style to tell their nine-line tale. The lines may now be repeated and expanded. Remind the group to make a written record (script) of their work.

Give each group a musical improv to use in creating their musical scene:

Group A:

Basing its improv on The Frog Prince, this group plays "The Narrated Game." The characters in this scene are a Narrator, the Frog Prince, the Princess, and the King. During the improvisation, the Frog, Princess, and King sing their parts, using the nine-line script. The Narrator speaks and fills in the missing pieces. This is very similar to the format of the Prologue in Into the Woods.

Group B:

Basing its improv on The Frog Prince Continued—from the beginning of the story up to the point when the Frog Prince meets Sleeping Beauty's Witch—this group plays an improv game called "Musical Hot Spot." The characters in the play are the Frog Prince, the Princess, Sleeping Beauty's Witch, and a Musician (with an instrument).

Players begin a straight scene. Any time the musician starts playing, the players must stop normal speaking and break into song. When the musician stops, the players must return to normal speaking. The actors should get as much of their nine-line script in song as they can. (The concept is similar to Musical Chairs.)

Group C:

This group bases its improv on The Frog Prince Continued, from the point when the Frog Prince meets Sleeping Beauty's Witch until he meets Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. This group plays an improv game called "Inner Mono Song." The characters are the Frog Prince, Sleeping Beauty's Witch, Snow White's Witch, Hansel and Gretel's Witch, and Cinderella's Fairy Godmother.

The improv begins with spoken dialogue. At any given point, one of the character sings his/her thoughts. The other characters on stage cannot hear the song. When the character is finished, he/she steps back into the scene and continues with dialogue. These songs can be pieces of the nine-line script. The characters can address the audience during their songs. (Think of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, Cinderella, and the song, "In My Own Little Corner.")

Group D:

This group bases its improv on The Frog Prince Continued, from the point when The Frog Prince meets Cinderella's Fairy Godmother to the end of the story. The characters in this excercise are the Frog Prince, Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, the Princess, and a Narrator.

The characters line up. The Narrator points to a character, and the character sings his/her line in the nine-line script. The characters can be cut off midline, but they must know where they are in the sequence of their tale. (The Narrator functions a bit like a conductor pointing to soloists in an orchestra.) Eventually, the story should be told smoothly.

Give the students fifteen minutes to play around with this activity. Assign one person per group to serve as "director." This person makes sure all members are working and keeping on track. Check each group to make sure each person (even the director) has a part. Make sure each character and person knows his/her motivation (that is, what he or she wants).

Groups present their scenes to the class. Make audio and/or video recordings of the presentations. Students should note what they like and don't like about these pieces.

(*Note: Students occasionally have difficulty thinking of a tune. Suggest that they use another song's melody, such as television ad jingles, Christmas songs, patriotic songs, or another popular song.)

Review the video and audio tapes of the scenes. Break the class back into groups to discuss what they liked and did not about their scenes. What should be kept of these tunes and words to make a complete telling of two tales, The Frog Prince and The Frog Prince Continued? Remind students to be diplomatic and to respect each other's work. They all took risks to produce their scene.

Give students a half an hour to make adjustments to their scene.

Have students present the new scenes to the class, write the scenes out in script form, and record them on video and audio tapes.

Have students reflect, in journals, on the challenges faced by creating the "score" for this mini-musical. Was is challenging to work with the group? The material? What seemed interesting? Fun? Confusing?

Collect the journal entries and scripts.

Assessment:

Assess the degree to which students meet the following criteria:

• identifying the meanings of score, lyric, and libretto.
• working cooperatively with a group.
• presenting the scene and used the musical improvisation.
• creating a musical scene and recorded it in script form.
• reflecting on the challenges of creating a score for a mini-musical.

Extensions:

This lesson is designed to be taught after the Fairy Tale Variations lesson.

Sources:

Print:

• Ranke, Kirk (ed.) and Lotte Baumann (trans). Folktales of Germany. Forward by Richard M. Dorson. Chicago; The University of Chicago Press, 1966.
• Ross, Beverly B. and Jean P. Durgin. Junior Broadway. New York; McFarland & Company, 1998.
• Scieszka, Jon and Steve Johnson. The Frog Prince Continued. Viking, 1991.
• Sondheim, Stephen and James Lapine. Into the Woods. New York: Music Theatre International, 1988.
• Sondheim, Stephen and James Lapine. Into the Woods Junior. New York: The Broadway Junior Collection, 1988.
• Zipes, Jack (trans) and John B. Gruelle (ill.). The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Bantam Books, 1992.

Media:

• Gabriel, Peter. Us. London; Virgin Records, 1992.
• Sondheim, Stephen and James Lapine. Into the Woods: Original Cast Recording. RCA Victor; 1988.

Authors:

• Mary Beth Bauernschub, Teacher
  Kingsford Elementary School
  Mitchellville, MD