The Berenstain Bears' New Musical Brings Laughs and Life Lessons to NYC Kids

The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters the Musical hits Manhattan after a 35-city theater tour, bringing the classic children's books to life on stage.

When it comes to storybook animals (and I include books, films, and cartoons here) fictional bears pretty much trump talking cats, dogs, mice, horses, bunnies, penguins, and even dinosaurs. It's not all that hard to figure out why: Talking bears, with their furry coats and jaunty smiles, have super tyke appeal, from the 1800s when the Three Bears encountered a breaking-and-entering Goldilocks, to Winnie-the-Pooh and his eclectic posse of friends, to Yogi and Boo Boo trolling Jellystone Park for pic-i-nic baskets. There's also the timeless cuddle-comfort of stuffed teddy bears and their descendants and, more recently, bear-inspired foods headed by Gummy Bears and backed up at breakfast with Teddy Graham Cereal.

So it's a pretty good bet that if you were to ask a tot-sized bear aficionado what would make them grrrr with glee, it would have to be seeing the first family of kid-lit bears — the Berenstain Bears — live on stage.

And thanks to the efforts of three Michaels, a Matt, a Dev, and a Jan, New York parents and cubs can gather in Bear County and share the laughter and life-lessons that make up The Berenstain Bears LIVE! in Family Matters, the Musical. [Producer Matt Murphy, writers Michael Borton and Michael Slade, director/choreographer Dev Janki, and Michael Berenestain who, along with his mother Jan, gave their official thumbs up to the project — are the savvy six responsible for making the musical a reality.] 

"What I love about the design of the show is that it translates the book illustrations verbatim," says Mattl Murphy, whose credits include such adult fare as Altar Boyz and Laurence Fishburne in Thurgood. "My parents started reading the Berenstain stories to me when I was about three," Murphy recalls, adding that, as he learned to read, Stan and Jan Berenstain's ever-growing collection was, of all the children's books on his shelves, "the one I was most attached to growing up."

Murphy, like decades of youngsters who have given their imaginations over to the fuzzy family who reside "in the big tree house down a sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country," remains smitten — only now he gets to share his lifetime Berenstain infatuation on his adult professional turf: the stage.

"As the children walk into the theater, what they see has a real impact," he says. "Here they are in this familiar, warm place they know, Bear Country, and it makes such a difference for them. It's not just walking into a dark, unfamiliar theater."

But enough about grown-ups, The Berenstain Bears LIVE! is a kid-a-thon of giggles, paw-tapping tunes, and, yes, dancing bears!

"What's especially fun for kids is that the show is seen through the eyes of Brother and Sister Bear," says Murphy. "As a result, both boys and girls can identify with the kid bears — and they do!"

The storyline, plucked from three classic Berenstain books — Too Much Junk Food, Trouble at School, and Learn About Strangers — gives every member of the Bear family plenty of stage time to show off their personalities and, in the case of Papa, Sister, and Brother, warts (do bears get warts?) and all. Mama (in her eye-catching blue polka-dot dress with matching hat), is the voice of reason in this close clan — an excellent thing, since she's dealing with a husband hooked on choco-chums, sugar balls, and sweetsie-cola, a son whose soccer ego is interfering with this math grades, and a daughter who is a little too outgoing when it comes to chatting up strangers.