NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� One of Australia's hottest exports is doing a walkabout through America.
The first-ever theatrical adaptation of the popular animated children鈥檚 TV show 鈥淏luey鈥� starts a multi-state tour this month.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the one time you really get to share the show with an audience. It doesn鈥檛 just disappear onto the screen,鈥� says the show鈥檚 creator Joe Brumm who provided a new script for the theatrical event. 鈥淚 hope America enjoys it.鈥�
The Brisbane-produced 鈥淏luey,鈥� which centers on an eponymous 6-year-old Blue Heeler pup, her sister, Bingo, and their parents, Chilli and Bandit, has in just a few years grown into a worldwide phenomenon.
The show has been praised for its ability to speak honestly about parenting and childhood, with realistic dialogue and creative games. It won an International Emmy Kids Award for best preschool program.
It was up to Brumm to turn his seven-minute animated TV show into a 56-minute stage performance and hand it over to a director, actors and the creative team, something that was a tad jarring.
鈥淚t was the first big 鈥楤luey鈥� story I鈥檇 written that I didn鈥檛 have control over the end result,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat was a big adjustment to just to bring it out of animation time and into real time.鈥�
with new music by 鈥淏luey鈥� composer Joff Bush, is a story about sisters, inspired by Brumm watching his oldest daughter getting fed up with her younger sister copying her all the time and wanting to remain unique.
鈥淎s with any 鈥楤luey鈥� episode, what we have happening with the kids is reflected back to the adults. So we find out that mom and her sister are going through their thing as well,鈥� he says.
The creative team decided on child-sized puppets to bring the characters to life, with each manipulated by one of two puppeteers who are fully visible.
鈥淵ou have to show them,鈥� says director Rosemary Myers of Windmill Theatre Co. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 show them a kind of more abstracted version or adults actors playing dogs. So that鈥檚 why we really leaned into the form of puppetry,鈥�
It took Brumm a minute to wrap his head around it, initially worried the audience would just look at the humans. He was convinced the right decision was made when he saw it live.
鈥淪ure enough, within literally 30 seconds of that first performance, I completely tuned the human actors out,鈥� he says, laughing. 鈥淪o, yeah, it was a journey for me to just hand over that level of control over to the play people. But I think they did brilliantly.鈥�
The tour visits New York City on Friday and goes to Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, upstate New York, Missouri, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona, California, Washington, Utah, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C.
鈥淲e鈥檝e actually added a little more of a tone of participation,鈥� says Myers. 鈥淚t keeps moving and it鈥檚 really dynamic, but it鈥檚 also got heart and it鈥檚 got got meaning as well, like 鈥楤luey鈥� itself.鈥�
The show made its debut in Australia and was performed 447 times across 65 venues, including the Sydney Opera House.
Myers thinks the theatrical show has captured what the animated show does, which is celebrate the little moments in a young family, like learning to use a water fountain or making friends.
鈥淚 think the magic for me is that it鈥檚 a very contemporary family that鈥檚 depicted,鈥� she says. 鈥淪ometimes stuff for children feels a little bit nostalgic or something like that. I feel like it really captures the world that a lot of people live in.鈥�
Brumm says his inspiration is always watching his children navigate the world, listening as their imagination soars. He marvels that they hardly ever need props and that what emerges is usually a "shared bizarreness."
鈥淲hen they鈥檙e playing these games, they鈥檙e usually trying to recreate the adult world, but they don鈥檛 know enough about it to get 100% right. And so what ends up for the parents is a really funny environment.鈥�
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Mark Kennedy is at
Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
