Children’s Music

Dear Michael,

Congratulations!

The judges have made their selections for the 36th Annual Mid-Atlantic Song Contest sponsored by the Songwriters’ Association of Washington. I am happy to inform you that your song received the following award this year:

Big on Your Bird was chosen for the Silver award for the Children’s category 

With a record number of entries this year, the decisions were not easy and the competition from your peers made this decision harder than you know. For that, it should be treasured as sweetly won…

Jay Keating, SAW President and 2019 MASC Director

Over the years, I’ve written two children’s musicals with the playwright and songwriter in his own right, Fred Rohan Vargas, that were performed stateside as well as overseas. They were entitled, The Big Eyed Gorilla and A World Without Water.   

The Big Eyed Gorilla is loosely based on Faustav and is the story of a kid, Lamont Steptoe who negotiates with the devil to secure a gorilla costume for devious purposes and gets trapped inside it. It opened at the Henry Street Settlement in NYC. A World Without Water is the story of two children, Juan and Juanita, who wish away the clouds and the disastrous consequences that result from their self-centered motives. 

I was commissioned by the Don Quixote Experimental Children’s Theatre to write the music and lyrics for Lincoln and the Cool Kid which was performed at the Lincoln Square Theatre in New York. Further, several decades ago,  I wrote two fire safety/prevention children’s musicals called, The Three Little Fire Experts as well as Simon the Sniffing Smoke Detector.