Key Change: New Musicals for Young Audiences presents four groundbreaking musicals developed by Children's Theatre Company, widely regarded as the leading theatre of its kind in North America. These works embody singular styles and sounds, yet all represent the robust spirit of unique people finding their way in the world. They are all sure to entertain, including the Broadway hit A Year with Frog and Toad. The quirky Tale of a West Texas Marsupial Girl, by Lisa D'Amour, with music by Sxip Shirey, is set in a town unprepared to accept a girl born with a pouch. But eventually, with the help of her friend Sue, everyone comes to understand just how wonderful Marsupial Girl is. Madeline and the Gypsies-adapted by Barry Kornhauser from the popular book by Ludwig Bemelmans, with music by Michael Koerner-gives little Madeline and her friend Pepito a taste of circus life after they get lost at a carnival and Gypsies carry them away. In Buccaneers! (written by Liz Duffy Adams, with music by Ellen Maddow) a girl leads the young pirates who capture her toward a better life through her wits and tenacity. A Year with Frog and Toad chronicles the unlikely friendship of silly Toad and responsible Frog that endures all seasons. Based on the classic books by Arnold Lobel, adapted by Willie Reale, with music by Robert Reale, it made its mark on Broadway and was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Each of these musicals guarantees a distinctive, delightful theatrical experience. Now teachers and children far and wide can read them in one volume and produce them in their own schools, theatres, and communities.

Young children love to explore their world through drama--characters, dialogue, story arcs, and props are all standard elements of a child's play. It is no surprise then that professional theatre has long been regarded as a way to support children's social-emotional, cognitive, and creative development. Increasingly, there is an international interest in theatre for very young audiences, and the "Wall Street Journal "reported on a "baby boom" in American theatre, with a marked upswing in the number of stage plays being written and produced for toddlers and preschoolers.

Fueled by ongoing research into developmental psychology and theatre arts, the Children's Theatre Company (CTC) of Minneapolis presents in this book four of its newly commissioned plays for preschoolers. CTC is widely recognized as the leading theatre for young people and families in North America; it received the 2003 Tony award for regional theatre, and Time magazine rated it the number one children's theatre in the United States. These four plays encompass a broad range of styles and subjects: "Bert and Ernie, Goodnight " is a musical about Bert and Ernie's unlikely but true friendship, written by Barry Kornhauser and based on the original songs and scripts from "Sesame Street." "The Biggest Little House in the Forest" is a toy-theatre play about a group of diverse animals trying to share a very tiny home, adapted by Rosanna Staffa from the book by Djemma Bider. "The Cat's Journey" is a dazzling shadow-puppet play with a little girl who rides on a friendly cat, written by Fabrizio Montecchi. And Victoria Stewart's "Mercy Watson to the Rescue ," adapted from the Kate DiCamillo Mercy Watson series, is a comic romp featuring the inadvertent heroics of everyone's favorite porcine wonder.

While these plays are as different as they could be, they all help young children to develop a moral compass and critical-thinking skills--while also showing them the power of the theatre to amaze, delight, and inspire.

The world of young people in the United States today is exhilaratingly global, enriched by the influences of many various cultures. With that, however, comes the need for children to retain confidence in their own heritage while empathizing with people who might seem very different from them. The protagonists of these four plays--written for the world-renowned Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis--strive to achieve that balance with determination, love, and humor.

The richness and relevance of these plays lie in their complex portraits of diversity and cultural collision. In "Snapshot Silhouette," Somali-born Najma and African American Tay C share the same skin color but struggle to understand each other. The heroine of "Brooklyn Bridge "must forge new connections with her Puerto Rican and West Indian neighbors while maintaining her connection to her Russian mother. In "Esperanza Rising," Mexican immigrant farmworkers navigate complicated relationships with other Mexicans who are in the United States illegally. And in "Average Family," the character who knows the most about the Dakota way of life is not a Native American but the daughter of a white family.

A culturally plural society can separate people by perceived chasms of unfamiliarity and difference. But as the characters in these plays learn, there can also be bridges built to span those chasms and connect the two sides. The plays in "The Face of Americ"a will serve as cultural bridges for young people everywhere.