AG music question

[OSusannah]

I've seen several posts by people who love the CDs from the theater. I think I'd like to order one for my daughter, but my question is Which One? Does anyone have both and prefer one? Has anyone seen both shows and prefer one music over another? Circle of Friends is newer, right? But Kaya isn't pictured on it, is she not included in either production? Does anyone have any opinion?

[dramamama321]

I've been thinking about buying one for my daughter as well. I'd love to hear some reviews.

Tonya

[dianasmama]

American Girl's Revue has Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha and Molly.

Just two weeks ago, we got the American Girls Revue, I think this is from the NY show, it's what they used to show in Chicago I think. My 4 year old LOVES it, begs to hear it, and last night performed her own show for her father! The story of Felicity and Penny are her favorites. At first, I didn't let her listen to the Addy story, it is kind of scary, but w/o me knowing it, she listened in her room one day and she likes that one too. I highly recommend this whole CD, so much so in fact, that I ordered the Circle of Friends CD last night.

funny story...in the Addy song at the end she sings "momma, they won't let us in the ice cream parlor 'cause we colored" Diana said that Addy really shouldn't color in the ice cream store...that's not nice! It's rather hard to explain racism to a 4 year old, and for the concept of slavery for right now I just told her that Addy lived with some people who were mean to her. She's too young right now to really grasp this. Also, our next door neighbors used to have a dog named Freedom, so when Addy and her momma are running toward Freedom, my daughter thinks they're running to the dog! This will all take some time for her to understand. I told her she and I can read the books when she's older.

As far as the other girl's stories go, they are all very sweet, Molly's is the Victory Girls and I wish it was more just about Molly.

Anyway, I'm very excited to get Circle of Friends also. Oh, and the other thing, it starts off talking about "our new friend, Laura". My daughter thinks that is just fantastic because that's my name!

<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ June 11, 2004 08:56 PM: Message edited by: dianasmama ]</font>

[ubarose]

Both are top notch. I would suggest getting AG Revue first because the plot of the play (and yes there is a very slight plot) comes prior to the plot of the second play. If you like the first one, you will end up getting the second one anyway, so you might as well listen to them in order.

I like the Circle of Friends a bit better than AG Revue. The girls voices, especially Josefina's, are beautiful.

[moderator]

I have the first one. I tried to play it for a girl in the targeted age group (she was probably ten at the time) and she was bored to tears and asked me to turn it off. It's not just music, but also talking, like a musical. I think if she could have seen the action as well as hear what was being said she would have liked it better, but being someone used to television, she didn't care for it at all.

It's the type of thing where you need to sit, listen, and pretend...kind of like those old children's records that told stories, and you'd sit with a book and "pretend" the action. I think girls with big imaginations who like to picture things would enjoy it.

Also, the girls "overact" compared to television actresses, which is normal for theater so that things done onstage will project well to the audience, but why I personally didn't like listening to it.