The Bossy King

Niki Davies

Rating:

The Bossy King is a nativity musical for very young children to perform. There are seven original songs which, although having a limited range of pitch so as to be suitable for young voices, vary in tempo and time to give some musical interest. The accompanying CD is of a good quality, with each song being performed by the Out Of the Ark Children’s Choir. These are then followed by an accompaniment track for each song with the melody line being prominent in most of the tracks thus making it easier for children to sing to.

The songs themselves have easy lyrics and are mostly fairly repetitive. They provide some opportunity for solo singing if required, but could just as easily be performed by a group. The script is also very simple with only a few lines between each song, which are mostly delivered by a narrator. These could be divided up to increase the number of children involved or could be read by an adult.

Although billed as a nativity musical there is very little reference to the biblical story of Jesus’ birth with the vast majority of the story being centred round the non-biblical character of the Bossy King. However, the shepherds and the Kings do both appear in the script and it does finish with the Bossy King finding Jesus in the manger. Overall, a good production for young children, but not suitable if you want to be faithful to the Biblical story.

Reviewer: Andrew Hornsby, Music and RE Subject Leader/Collective Worship Co-ordinator, Holton-le-Clay Junior School, Lincolnshire

Review posted on: 8 May 2008

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