Saturday, June 17, 2000

Message same today: Be free to have feelings

By LAURA STEWART
NEWS-JOURNAL FINE ARTS WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — Ashley Novak hadn't thought about "Free To Be ... You And Me" for almost 25 years. She hadn't read the stories, seen the pictures, heard the songs.

Then, a few weeks ago, she was planning her daughter Madison's fourth birthday, and she saw a mention of Marlo Thomas's 1974 hit. "I flipped. It all came back," said Novak, 30. "I had the book and the record yes, it was a record.

"It all seemed so fresh: It's All Right to Cry' and William and his doll. My younger brother was always playing with a doll, and so that always really stuck with me," said Novak. "There were so many good memories, the kind of songs and stories you want your own kids to hear. I went online and found the book for Madison."

It wasn't just the book she found for her daughter. Novak also has the recording a CD now and six tickets to next Saturday's Seaside Music Theater production of "Free To Be." She was the same age Madison is now when she was so fascinated with the stories and songs. So Novak wants the whole family along for Madison's turn: her parents, here from Atlanta; her husband; Madison, of course; and her younger child, who's almost 2.

"I just loved the music, and the lessons. I really liked It's All Right To Cry' it meant too much to believe it really was all right to cry, to show emotion, whether you're a boy or a girl," she said. "It's one thing for children to hear that from their parents, but when it's reinforced through other kids, other people, a book or a record or a play, you hear it."

Novak isn't the only one who heard the lessons, and felt the fun of "bursting stereotypes," to use her expression. The groups crowding into the 576-seat SMT Downtown theater the other day came in all sizes and ages. Toddlers sat with grandmothers, little girls sat with their friends and mothers, boys and girls sat with fathers.

There were 72, ranging in age from 5 to 12, with Carol Hopkins and the camp counselors from the city of South Daytona's summer program, sitting together in matching T-shirts and hanging on every word, every joke, every point. Hopkins had chosen the play for a field trip because as a girl she watched "That Girl," the sitcom that starred "Free To Be" creator Marlo Thomas from 1966 to 1971, and decided her campers would like the kids' show.

"Marlo Thomas was so good in 'That Girl.' I was sure this show would be fun for the kids and also be wholesome," said Hopkins, rounding up her campers as their applause faded. "I was right. I was watching the children during the show, and all ages liked it."

Really liked it, said Adam Scofield, 8. The Port Orange boy hadn't heard of the book or Thomas or the friends she invited to write its songs, poems and stories: Judy Blume, Carl Reiner, Mary Rodgers, Shel Silverstein, Charlotte Zolotow and many others.

Scofield hadn't known about the rainbow sets by Lynette Scoles or wonderful dress-up costumes by Steven Simon. He hadn't heard of the characters or of the actors who played them tomboyish Janet (Kathleen Dunn), bratty Vickie (Angela Sacco), sweet William (Nicholas Richberg), playful Richard (Andrew Ross), the peppy ensemble or the four-piece band that accompanies them.

But he did know what he liked. "It was so cool and fun," said Scofield. "It showed me that it's not good to make fun of friends when they do what they want to do. And I like it that William wanted a doll and that his grandmother got him one if someone just wants a doll, he should be able to have one."

His counselor smiled. "This show is 25 years old, and it's still an issue. People still make fun of boys with dolls, and maybe they always will, always. But this can help change stereotypes," said Amanda Smitherman, 20 and an education major at the University of Florida. It has positive role models. We see that William's doll helps him to learn how to be a good father. Everyone understands that."

Kaitlin Wood, a New Smyrna Beach 6-year-old, agreed. "It was funny when they were trying to be babies! I learned it doesn't matter what kind of toys you want to play with even if you're a boy, you can play with a doll."

Right, said Paul McIntyre, an 8-year-old from South Daytona, who plans to be a doctor when he grows up. You can have any type of toys you want. You can be anything you want to be."

What really interested Courtney Boyd, 12, was how happy the actors were, how talented and how funny. And, said the Jacksonville camper, "you need to always be yourself, and to have good friends."

Robin Buckles, 38, and Nancy Abate, 33, know all about it. Both are from Ormond Beach, and both were at the musical with their children all girls, ages 2 through 7. It's fun to go to the theater with friends, especially when "Free To Be" reminded Abate so much of a musical act she adored when she was her daughters' ages: "Up With People."

This show was cool, the younger girls agreed. Ashley Buckles, 6, said she liked "Free To Be" because it was so much fun. But it didn't change her mind about her career plans. "I'm going to be an artist," said Buckles. "And I'm going to swim with the penguins in the Boston Aquarium."

Ashley Novak knows what the younger Ashley is talking about. When she was 4 and saw and heard and read and sang "Free To Be," she felt truly free from stereotypes, and still does. "I grew up in Atlanta, going to the High Museum for the marionettes at an early age. Theater was so available, and so inexpensive."

"We moved here four years ago, and I never went to the theater," said Novak. "Then one day I opened the newspaper and saw that Seaside Music Theater was doing "Free To Be." It had been 25 years, but it all came back. I got the CD as a present for Madison, and I got the book, too. It's a present for her, and a present for me."

Singing along

When Marlo Thomas thought up "Free To Be ... You And Me," she didn't work alone. The daughter of funny-man Danny Thomas and star of her own hit sitcom, "That Girl," she asked friends to share in the fun.

And they did. The talent made Free To Be" the fine collection of easy-to-remember, easy-to-love stories, poems and songs it turned out to be first as a book, in 1974, then as a recording and TV show. Writers who worked with Thomas include Judy Blume, Dan Greenberg, Edward Kleban, Carl Reiner, Mary Rodgers, Shel Silverstein and Charlotte Zolotow.

Even today, grownups can hum the songs, accompanied in Seaside Music Theater's production by pianist Angie Long, drummer Sam Forrest and bassists John Price and Alex S. Albanese. The show starts at the beginning, with babies who learn not to "tell a book by its cover" in "Let's Hear It For The Babies."

Other songs include: "When We Grow Up," "William's Doll," "Parents Are People," "Glad To Have A Friend Like You" and "It's All Right To Cry."

If you go

What: 'Free To Be ... You And Me.'

When: 10 a.m. Fridays and some Saturdays, through Aug. 18.

Where: SMT Downtown, 176 N. Beach St., Daytona Beach. Tickets: $5, by calling (904) 252-6200, (904) 255-3146 or 1-800-854-5592.