Cons:
If you have never seen OT: Our Town sorry no reviews yet at Epinions.com I shall have to briefly explain that documentary for me to explain why I am not giving Children Will Listen a better rating.

There is a great deal of research pointing to theatre and art programs helping at risk youth. One can assume that the children in “Children will listen” are at risk youth, just by the simple fact all children in this show are attending Washington, D.C. public schools. But while this show follows the children from pre-production to the actual show and includes interviews with parents, you never really witness any growth. OT on the other hand follows the same path but you see the students growing into adults with potential through the actions in developing the play. That is a story worth telling on film.

On with the Show
Children Will Listen is a song with both “Into the Woods” and “Into the Woods Jr.” the family friendly version of Into the Woods. I have never seen or heard music from Into the Woods Jr., so I am unable to give much detail only that is was written by Stephen Sondheim and not someone trying to make a buck making Into the Woods safe for school productions.

The problem with Into The Woods regular is while the first act has Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (from Jack and the Bean Stalk), Cinderella, Repunzel, all together in the woods, it also has a second act, that includes a great deal more blood shed than the average fair tale child is use too, but not more than a child raised on the originals.

THE DVD
Is just 1 hour from a PBS of the making of Into the Woods Jr, which opened the 75th Anniversary spectacular at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. This program was produced by the students of Washington, DC public schools. With the help of adults they did costume design, set design, and all the acting. They of course had a professional director. Auditions were well attended, and the actors soon found themselves attending school all day and rehearsals until 9 PM. When all was said and done, they preformed 21 shows, at the Kennedy Center.

Children will Listen
A lot needs to be said, about the title, it was taken from an Amazing song called Children Will Listen and is reprised twice in the regular show, it is THAT important.

The song warns parents that what you say, will impact your children, and that is what this show SHOULD have been about. This show should have been less about, these are the children this is the show, and more about these are the children and this is what the show did for them.
There is a scene in the movie where they took a field trip so the set designers could see woods and chickens, the high school students had never seen a chicken or where eggs come from. There was another wonderful scene where they had to write what scares them, and then they put all those items into the woods, little things that no one would ever see, but a way of showing that woods are scary places (also just trees), why not expand on that and show us how putting fears onto paper and later the set, set, some fears free?

In the ends Children will Listen falls flat on what I hoped it would do. I am sure it had a wonderful effect on many of the children involved but either from lack of footage, or lack of editing the story it told was different from the one I wanted to see.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4