28, 2001, in the world premiere of Ross' Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight, a concert for two actors and orchestra, part of the Westchester Philharmonic's Philharmaniacs family program in Purchase, NY. Ogden Nash's Custard the Dragon came alive Oct. Performances are in the Theater Lab, home of the long-running DC hit, Shear Madness. The show is recommended for children four and older. The production will have a cast of seven and the 10 piece National Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, directed by Mary Hall Surface. "The message is that we can be brave when the ones we love are in danger." "It's a show about courage," Ross said in a statement. Custard's cowardly demeanor is tested when a Pirate and Wicked Knight invade. Ross set Nash's whimsical verse to music and wrote seven additional songs with lyricist Danny Whitman to create a 50-minute musical story about a softhearted dragon named Custard and his motley cohorts Belinda, Ink, Blink and Mustard. Nash's books "The Tale of Custard the Dragon" and "Custard The Dragon and the Wicked Knight" are the source material for the new show, which was seen in different pieces in concert form elsewhere.
The sold-out work was commissioned by The Kennedy Center in honor of the 100th birthday of Ogden Nash. (Apr.Composer-songwriter Brad Ross, whose Little By Little had an Off-Broadway staging by York Theatre Company, will see his The Tales of Custard the Dragon premiered at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC May 10-11. Custard is a little more up to date-like a lime-green beanbag with slender purple wings-and his moment of bravery reminds ``fearless'' readers of the purpose of guardians in a sometimes scary world. Munsinger's watercolor-and-ink cartoons have a classic quality: Ink the cat appears Victorian, and there's a trace of John Tenniel's designs in pug-nosed, striped-hose-wearing Belinda. Title character Custard, the ``realio, trulio little pet dragon,'' lives with young Belinda, her dog Mustard, her cat Ink and her mouse Blink while these housemates boast of their brave deeds, cowardly Custard cries for ``a nice safe cage.'' Yet when a pirate invades their home, the smaller pets desert Belinda (``Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household,/ And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed''), and Custard courageously saves the day. The late Ogden Nash's (Custard and Company) wordplayful 1936 rhyme gets a fresh start with timeless illustrations by Munsinger (Ho for a Hat! One Hungry Monster).
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