Composer/Arranger: John Jacobson & Emily Crocker
Link to Purchase: https://www.halleonard.com/product-family/PC17412/when-i-grow-up-musical
Run Time: 30 min
Appropriate for:
___Kindergarten
___1st Gr.
✅ 2nd Gr.
✅ 3rd Gr.
✅ 4th Gr.
✅ 5th Gr.
✅ 6th Gr.
Number of songs: 7 and a reprise of the opening song.
Number of Solos: 12 (optional) solos. Many, Many spoken within the timing of the songs.
___Unison
✅ 2 Part (Independent)
✅ 2 Part (Harmonizing)
✅ 3 Part (Independent)
___3 Part (Harmonizing)
___4 Part (Independent)
___4 Part (Harmonizing)
✅ Performance Track Available
✅ Accompaniment Track Available
✅ Singer Scores Available
✅ Choreography Included
Script:
____Rhyming Dialog
✅ Non-Rhyming Dialog (easy)…….but only a few lines. The bulk of the revue is the songs and singing.
____Non-Rhyming Dialog (medium difficulty)
____Non-Rhyming Dialog (hard)
Scenery: None needed at all
Costumes:
Featured in specific numbers: Sailor Hats, Plumbers (Overalls), Bakers (aprons/bakers hats), Train engineer hats/red bandanas, Cowboy attire (hats too), black top hats.
Featured only in the opening song: Security guard, banker, lawyer, Barber, bum, teacher, preacher, movie star, lion tamer, coach, fireman or woman, secretary, designer, sanitation engineer, basketball player, computer analyst, psychiatrist, florist, choreographer, and an accountant
If you need a little costume inspiration, hop over to: https://www.pinterest.com/soundslikefunmusic/
Props:
Wooden baking spoons for the bakers Plungers for the plumbers, train whistles, boas and big glasses (like a movie star), Black canes, telephone
Optional oversized props for opening number: Dollar bill, Gavel, Scissors, books, bible or cross, and a star
A fun musical revue explores a KID’S view of careers. For most of the 2-part tunes, I pitted boys singing “against” girl singing. BUY-IN….CHECK! The kids loved it! To help learn all the songs quickly, it’s important to decide who’s doing which occupations, especially the feature songs, This makes teaching the tunes and choreography sooooo much easier. The exception would be the opener/closer. I tend to teach that song first anyway, because it HAS to grab the audience’s attention. Also you never want to open or close with a badly sung/danced number! The costumes and prop section really looks like a LOT, but it will be worth it! Props for the bakers and plumbers added to the dancing of their feature songs. FYI: the Bum “I wanna be a bum” steals the show!
Prior to starting to assign parts, I polled the students to see who already had some of the costumes needed: suits/tuxedos, aprons, cowboy clothes, overalls, fancy dresses, police uniform, basketball jersey, etc. This REALLY HELPED when it was time to show up with costumes!
This song is rated for 1-6th grade. I would agree if this was a WHOLE school show, but NOT a stand alone. It’s too hard for 1st grade to sing without the older kids’ support.
Individual Song Information/Suggestions/impressions
Free to Be…Me!: 2 part, independent line rock tune with ending occasional 2-part harmonies. This song features MANY different occupations. IT has six optional solos and a BUNCH of speaking solos that require timing. It was very hard to distinguish each occupation was being sung about, so I created large oversized props for each student to hold up as they sung about “their” career: Banker (Dollar bill), Lawyer (Gavel), Barber (Scissors), teacher (books), preacher (bible or cross), movie star (star).
I Wanna Be a Baker!: Unison, softshoe tune. In an all school performance, I’d have 1st graders do this one as a stand alone tune. I had bakers dance with an actual kitchen wooden spoon. Every bit of choreography entailed utilizing that utensil. You can get a whole bunch pretty cheap at a dollar store. The rest of the cast just pretended to have a spoon.
A Sailor’s Life for Me: 2 part independent/Harmonic Sea Chanty Style Girls vs. Boys tune! There’s even a “battle” of singing at the end! Timing is huge in this song!!!
It’s a Great Thing to be a Plumber: A comic Vaudeville-like number with 6 optional solos and one spoken solo at the beginning. Plumbers dance with their plungers and even stick them on the floor at the end….creating a comic collapse of plumbers AND plungers for the final chord.
A Locomotive Engineer: Three independent parts begin this song in similar fashion to a locomotive gaining speed. What kind of “train” song would it be without someone playing the train whistle(s)! My Non-Verbal students were able to have a special part in the show by being our train whistle BLOWERS! The song finishes up similar to a train coming into the station….the kids even “sssss” at the end like a locomotive would!
I Wanna Be a Cowboy in a Rodeo Show: 2-part independent line rambling cowboy tune. Again I featured boys vs. girls singing. One of the student’s favorites!
I Wanna be a Star: You could have three groups featured: Movie Stars, Dancer, Singers. I chose to have the movie stars be all three. Optional simple 2 part independent part is available. Everyone wanted to be the movie stars! Their choreography was dramatic as I had the rest of the cast/choir follow up as “back-up” singers.
Reprise: Free To Be….Me!: Optional descant is added in and the whole long list of occupations is cut! This tune emphasizes the freedom to choose whatever occupation you’d like….”Free to be ME!”
If you’ve directed this musical, PLEASE feel free to share any thoughts and adaptations you did!
Sounds Like Fun 