Customer Reviews

Instant Christmas Pageants: Operation Baby King [With CDROM]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pros: easy to use, judicious use of the CD can tailor the difficulty level for your group, the message is neither "left-wing" nor "right-wing", the kids loved the idea of being "spies", and the congregation chuckled throughout.

Cons: if you have a small cast, you will need to make your own chart of who is in what scene in order to figure out where you can have kids play more than one part. Making this work for fewer than about 8 kids would be tricky unless you are working with older kids who understand how to effectively play more than one character in the same scene. (Memorizing lines might allow you to cut out one or two characters, too.)

I ordered both "Operation Baby King" and "The Fumbly Bumbly Angels", listened to both, and decided that "Operation Baby King" was going to be the better of the two. FBA is a cute story, but the introductions to the songs were too stodgy, e.g. "Please sing <insert song title> with us". In contrast, OBK worked the titles into the dialog (sometimes getting a humorous groan from the audience) and seemed to flow much better. If we can memorize our lines next year, we may try FBA with some slight modifications to the song intros. OBK has subtle (and not so subtle) references to other films and characters (James Bond, The Princess Bride, Dragnet, etc.) which an astute audience will catch and be entertained by.

This was my very first children's play/pageant of any kind. We pulled it off after 3.5 hours of rehearsal time (one being on the morning of the performance) and the congregation really enjoyed it. The ".5" rehearsal was a day where we just listened to the first part of the CD, talked about it, and told them that they would get their casting assignments the next week. I think the keys to our success were these: we used the CD for all dialog except 3 lines at the end and let kids just gesture/pantomime or even lip-sync if they really wanted to (although the book recommends against it); we printed the words to the songs on large poster board so the kids didn't have to memorize those either (there are 8 songs with 2 or 3 verses each!); we created a poster board listing the scenes and songs as a giant "cue card"; we asked the congregation to sing along on all songs and provided them the words by copying the page from the book (permission is granted for this right on the page); we concentrated on practicing acting out the scenes and scene transitions rather than the songs; we staged it as a choir with speaking parts stepping out for their scenes and then rejoining the choir (no entrances or exits from the stage). This allowed us to re-use the whole cast as "the heavenly host" where needed.

We had 13 kids ranging in age from 4 to 11; 4-6 year olds can do just fine as wise men, Mary and Joseph, one (or both) of the shephards, etc. It was helpful to have older kids do most of the "spy" roles because they have more scenes and scene transitions. All of the kids came up with their own costumes out of things they had around the house. One child played 2 roles (first a shephard, then a wise man). There are two or three other roles that could also be easily combined if you have fewer kids. There is also room to fill out the cast (add animals, more shephards or wise men, etc.) if you have more kids. Many of the kids (and parents) have suggested that we do the same one next year because they enjoyed it so much.

I recommend at least 3 1-hour practices at a minimum; plan for more if you would like to be less stressed out about whether or not your kids are ready or if you want to memorize lines or songs.

Operation Baby King is an interesting twist on the Christmas story. Secret Agents argue and plot over who has exclusive rights to the new heavenly king, Jesus. It begins with a Mission Impossible gag that will resonate with boomers who watched the '60's TV spy show as kids AND the younger set who've seen all the retro movies. The acronyms for each agent and their organizations make you have to think like R.I.G.H.T.E.O.U.S. - Really Important Guys Having Terrific Egos of Unusual Size.

I love this series of 5 books!! Each one offers a different perspective on the Christmas story. This one is told by Agent Double O-Heaven and his angel friends. Each book comes with a CD with all the music and spoken lines on it. All children do is act along with what is being said on the CD. Audience members are encouraged to participate through singing as well. The costumes are super easy to make and there are great tips for adjusting the program to fit the number of actors. I love all 5 of these books and HIGHLY recommend them to anyone looking for an easy to do, fun and professional looking Christmas Pageant for children!

Had purchased and used The Mouse's Tale Instant Christmas Pageant last year and loved it. When looking for something for this year I thought this would be a great purchase also; however, I didn't like how the Christmas Story (Jesus Birth) was told so we didn't even use it for our program.

On the positive side, I found this Pageant detailed and clearly laid out. It is nice having all costume ideas, invitations, how to act each line and photocopies right there. Good description from beginning to end. There are a few funny moments and the voice-overs are hilarious! Very adaptable to change to less/more characters. I have just the right amount so it's perfect.

I did find, however, that the songs are very traditional and serious. They seem the same in all of these books, but I did read a suggestion from another review that she just changed up the songs and that is what we are in the midst of doing. More upbeat and fun, yet still with the Christmas message. I've only done one rehearsal, but hopefully our next and last will make me feel more ready!

The pageant is put together in an easy to use format, however the play itself is very confusing. I used it with my 5th grade class, and it took them a while to understand who everyone was and how it all ties in together. All the people moving on and off the stage without scene changes is confusing.

Also, I wished that the CD had the songs only instrumental (instead of having to use one of those devices where you turn down one speaker) because I had an older machine I played it on, and the adult voices in the background didn't blend in so well with the kids.