The tales of the spunky first grader come to life on stage when Theatreworks USA’s touring production of the musical “Junie B. Jones.” is presented at 11:15 a.m. April 8 and at 9:30 and 11:15 a.m. April 9 at the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts at the College of Lake County in Grayslake and at 11 a.m. April 11 at College of DuPage’s McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn.
Based on the popular children’s book series “Junie B. Jones” by Barbara Park, the musical includes the stories from three books: “Junie B., First Grader (at last!), “Junie B., First Grader: Boss of Lunch,” and “Junie B., First Grader: One Man Band.”
“Every one of these adventures … comes to life very specifically and very visually for our audiences,” Director Peter Flynn said. “You get to discover her as she encounters each of these challenges in her life. Whether it’s wearing glasses for the first time or finding a way to cooperate at school, we get to be with her on her journey as she discovers each of these things.”
The songs that go with these adventures, he said, are “very tuneful” and family-friendly.
“In fact the title song ‘Top Secret Personal Beeswax,’ usually you’ll watch about a dozen or so kids dancing and singing on the way out,” he said.
The production features music by award-winning writer and lyricist Marcy Heisler and composer Zina Goldrich, whom Flynn said “are prolific musical writers, and they have a really great tuneful insight into this very flamboyant, very passionate, very impetuous young girl.”
Audience members often cheer for Junie B. when she overcomes a challenge and laugh along the way, he said.
“There’s lots of laughs throughout because Barbara Park wrote a very funny, not just character, but a group of friends and an environment in which they live that is very funny and very relatable,” Flynn said.
“And Marcy, as the book writer, was able to illuminate that theatrically even more. So there’s lots of laughs throughout and a lot of unexpected people playing different characters where you don’t expect them to that I think will be very entertaining for both young and old alike.
“It’s not pandering to younger minds and it’s not playing over their heads to get a laugh from the adults … everybody watching has something they’ll find entertaining and engaging,” he said.
Creating a musical based on such a popular character “wasn’t a challenge as much as it was a real opportunity,” he said.
The script was written while the book series’ author, Park, was still alive. Park died in 2013.
“She was very involved in how we adapted her character into a three-dimensional singing and dancing 6-year-old who is going into first grade. And she was would work with Marcy and receive each day a rehearsal report as well as script adaptations and changes,” Flynn said. “And she would sign off on all of them, or offer suggestions. And so really what would have been a challenge if she hadn’t been involved, turned into a wonderful opportunity to find the heart this young girl through her creator – through Barbara’s mind and point of view.”
When the show opened off-Broadway in 2004, Park came to see the show, he said.
“It was a great, great experience,” Flynn said.
Now one of the biggest challenges, he said, is fitting the set, costumes and props into “basically one big van,” for the touring production. The design team has to figure out which set pieces are collapsible and what props can be used in different ways.
“I think it’s amazing how much we were able to accomplish, when you see it realizing ‘this entire world I’m seeing fits into one cargo van,'” he said. “It’s through a magic trick how we put it together to go on the road.”
While the script and the score are exactly the same in the touring production as the original one in New York, the roles are played by different actors, Flynn said.
“Each cast brings something very different to the roles or characters and how they relate. This particular cast, I think Amanda (Turin) — who is playing Junie B. — has this wonderful point of view that is almost like a 25-year-old girl inside a 6-year-old body and mind. So there’s this wonderful, wacky sophistication, if you will, that Amanda brings to the role balanced with this great compulsion for compassion,” he said.
“Something that I think Junie B. has herself is a real relatability. She wants to know people. She wants to know how they tick, she wants to know how they can all be involved in a project together.”
Selecting which “Junie B.” books to use for the musical was “really trial and error,” Flynn said. The goal was to show how the challenges Junie faces become more and more public. One story is about Junie wearing glasses in her own classroom, another is about learning to cooperate at school.
“‘One-Man Band’ is learning how to identify what makes her special in the entire community where she lives,” Flynn said. “Each book magnifies or increases the public nature of Junie B.’s own self-understanding and integrating herself into the community.
“If you lean into a challenge that’s in front of you, that you actually don’t step away from it but look at it surrounded by friends and family that can help you, you’re actually going to find what makes you special,” Flynn said.
“Because it’s those moments of challenge where we realize that ‘I’m stronger than I thought’ or ‘I’m more innovative than I thought’ or ‘I’m more of a leader than I thought.’ That’s exactly what Junie B. does every time. She leans into a challenge, she identifies what is the struggle for her and in resolving it comes away with a feeling of well, what do you know. Which makes a stronger, clearer individual.”
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Kathy Cichon is a freelance writer.
First grade can be quite a challenge. Just ask Junie B. Jones.
“Junie B. Jones”
When: April 8-9
Where: James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts at College of Lake County, 19351 W. Washington St., Grayslake
Tickets: $10 general admission, $5 school groups
Info: 847-543-2300 or
April 11
Where: McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn
Tickets: $16 adults, $14 youth
Info: 630-942-4000 or atthemac.org