TigerLion Arts presents The Dragons Are Singing Tonight
Jan 27, 2012

Welcome to the Year of the Dragon! In collaboration with the Minnesota Boychoir, Puppet Farm Arts, and Circus Juventas, TigerLion Arts presents the world premiere of The Dragons Are Singing Tonight ~ the musical tale of a nasty dragon at the Southern Theater.

Premiering just after the Chinese New Year in January 2012, The Dragons Are Singing Tonight is a new musical based on the well-loved book of dragon poems by United States Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky. Composer Laurie MacGregor brings the poems to life in a score of sixteen songs, while Markell Kiefer (TigerLion Arts) directs actors Isabella Dawis (Star Tribune's "Outstanding Youth Performer" 2004, 2005), Tyson Forbes (TigerLion Arts), Eric Sharp, and Elise Langer in the story of an ordinary boy, a magical girl, and a nasty, nasty dragon. Thirty singing boys from the Minnesota Boychoir, two dazzling aerialists from Circus Juventas, 12 top-notch musicians, and countless puppets both giant and small create a wonderful winged world of dragons. The musical tale inspires us with humor, beauty, and the simple message to believe.

Extending to the Community
The production will extend to the community with a Dragons Art and Music Residency Program aimed to benefit children through the shared experience of singing, storytelling, and creating art. To kick off the program, TigerLion Arts will host school field trips to see the Southern premiere. Following the production, more than a thousand children at Richard R. Green Central Park School in Minneapolis and Northport Elementary in Brooklyn Center will work with their teachers, Dragons musicians, and puppet artists from In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre and Puppet Farm Arts to learn the Dragons songs and create their own dragon characters and stories through mask and puppetry. TigerLion Arts will provide songbooks, art materials, copies of Prelutsky's book, and help teachers develop an integrated curriculum in an effort to reach every student.

Finally, the students will participate in two large community events in May 2012; the Heart of the Beast May Day parade in downtown Minneapolis, and a choral performance at Green Central Park, where hundreds of children from the two schools will come together to sing The Dragons Are Singing Tonight.

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