NASHVILLE, TN (WTVF) — The Nashville Public Library is bringing a classic fairy tale to life with a Music City twist through their in-house puppet troupe's newest production.
Wishing Chair Productions has launched a reimagined version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" featuring original music from Nashville musicians, designed to be many children's first introduction to live theater.
"It took a lot of hearts, a lot of minds, a lot of hands to pour into this particular story," said Bret Wilson, Wishing Chair Productions Program Manager.
Wilson, who helped create the story and music while also voicing Papa Bear, emphasized the collaborative nature of the production.
"There was collaboration among many artists, whether that be builders, musicians, and writers and crafters, and visionary people. They all came together to create this wonderful telling," Wilson said.
The production aims to expose young audiences to Nashville's rich artistic and musical heritage.
"That's one of the things that I think here in the city that kids they can grab and hold on to. Not only just for puppets, but if they have a song in their heart, they too can take the lessons that they learn in the story," Wilson said.
Jenny Littleton, a Nashville actress and musician who voices Goldilocks, believes these performances create powerful experiences for children.
"Some of them this is the first time they've seen any kind of performance. Watching these young beautiful little minds and little people experience something like this it's gets me sometimes a little weepy," Littleton said.
The show features new music performed by talented local musicians.
"We have all these professional musicians from Nashville. It's a really good musical track. Beautiful, I mean really good musicians and Nashville is full of wonderful musicians and these are those!" Littleton said.
Littleton hopes the production will encourage more children to develop a love of reading.
"I wish I had read more as a child. I loved being read to, but that started changing a little bit as I got older. So I wish we had something like this when I was older," Littleton said.
The free performances run at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on May 16, 17, 23 and 24 at the downtown Nashville Public Library. Each show lasts just over 30 minutes and is open to the public.
Have you experienced the magic of puppetry with your children? Share your favorite children's theater memories or questions about the Goldilocks production with me at eric.pointer@NewsChannel5.com.
This story was reported by Eric Pointer and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Eric and our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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