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By ANDREW KAZAR
HAVE YOU ever been to
a party where a spotted
cat has spotted knees or
where the swimming pool is full
of 100 tonnes of bright green cor
dial? Or slipped on a pair of
gumboots and gone on an ad
venture trail through a rain for
est? Better still, have you ever
had the chance to shake hands
with an 2.6-metre banana in py
jamas?
If you have not then you will have
fun using your imagination and be
ing adventurous when Monica Tra
paga, Bananas in Pyjamas and a
string of ABC artists including Co
lin Buchanan, Christine Hutchin
son and Incy Wincy visit Canberra
next Sunday for the annual ABC
Open Day.
"There will be a lot of audience
participation and the children will
be exposed to new artists," Monica
said.
Perhaps best known for her work
on ABC TV's Play School, Monica
has released a 23-track album
through the ABC entitled Monica's
Tea Party. The album's all-original
songs comprise sounds and musical
instruments heard in a symphony
orchestra, like tubas and exotic in
struments from countries such as
Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
The aim of the songs is to expose
young listeners to a variety of in
struments and recognise them
through humour by making them
sound fun. Monica's performance
in Canberra will largely focus on
Monica Trapaga. Bananas in Pyjamas. Help
Monica Trapaga. Bananas in Pyjamas. Help
Monica Trapaga.
Bananas in
Pyjamas.
Monica's Tea Party and some sur
prise songs.
"Kids really look forward to open
days and it's great to be able to
provide that service for them,"
Monica said.
Apart from recording Monica's
Tea Party, the Play School co-host
since 1990 has also appearcdvin var
ious children's books published by
ABC Books, such as In the Garden
- Play School and At the Beach -
Play School.
Monica says that Play School, un
like many other television shows, is
difficult to shoot because the actors
do not use cuc cards so they have to
learn everything and keep it in their
heads.
"And that's a big thing to have in
your head because you do two dif
ferent shows a day," she said.
"I think Play School provides an
incredible education for kids and
allows time for parents to wash their
hair or hang out the washing for half
an hour."
Monica's unique sense of
humour can be seen in songs like
My Spotted Cat, with the lyrics:
"My spotted cat has spotted
knees/Makes friends with twenty
million fleas/Picks on creatures half
his size/And he fights with butter
flies."
My Tea Party has the words: "I'm
having- a bit of a tea party/But I
have some rather peculiar fricnds/I
wonder what I should serve,/
mmm? I know! ... A hundred
tonnes of bright red cordial/Filling
up my swimming pool."
Monica has included two.extend
ed stories on her album. Rainforest
Suite is written and performed to
encourage children to listen quietly
with the lyrics: "If you're very very
quiet you can hoar all sorts of
things. Listen. There's no cars, no
traffic, no trains or trucks. Can you
hear that? There's some frogs and
crickets and lots of insects."
Monica also helped out as Lulu in
the Bananas in Pyjamas' latest al
bum, Bananas in Pyjamas: The At'
bum. released in September. The
other Bananas in Pyjamas charac-,
ters are B1 and B2, Amy, Morgan,
and Rat in a Hat.
"They're very silly", Monica said.
According to Tammy Burnstock,
the producer of the Bananas in Py
jamas' third television series cur
rently in production, B1 and B2 will
appear in Canberra at the ABC
Open Day to greet and meet the
children with music from their al
bum. And with B1 and B2 standing
2.6 metres tall (with their stalks)
they will be quite a spectacle.
"The bananas dance around,
bump into each other and then
shake hands to the s.ong Banana
Holiday, "she said.
"At the first ABC Open Day for
the year held in Sydney in February'
B2's pyjamas partly fell down and
he danced around with one hand
trying to hold up his pyjamas with
the other hand waving," Tammy
said.
"He did this for about .five min
utes before I ran out to help him
pull his pyjamas back up."
But there is no need to worry.
B2's pyjamas arc unlikely to fall
down again because the elastic in
his pyjama pants has been replaced.
The ABC Open day will be held
in Commonwealth Park at Stage 88
next Sunday from 9am to noon.
Entry is free.
$