By Matthew Young, RealWV
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – “For the first year, we just built a little spaceship that was as big as a person. It was two dimensional, and we would just walk out of it. Then the second year, I put in over a hundred hours building a spaceship set.”
That’s what creator (and spaceship set Captain) Michael Valentine told RealWV this week about the evolution of “The Good Time Kids’ Show.’ Produced in partnership with the Huntington Childrens’ Museum, the show brings its unique brand of free family entertainment to Huntington’s Foundry Theatre this Saturday.
Now in its third year, the Good Time Kids’ Show is set to blast off for the biggest adventure yet.
“It just keeps getting bigger and bigger each year,” Michael said, while describing the inner-workings of the spaceship – which now includes a view screen to communicate with other ships zooming around the Good Time galaxy.
And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Good Time show without live music.
“I always want to do live music,” Michael noted. “The first band that I always think of is one of my favorite bands – The Carpenter Ants. The first year, I had them on as aliens.”
Michael’s “Good Time” shows have developed a reputation for being a solid example of the strong artistic community within the Huntington area, and southern West Virginia as a whole. And after the success and acclaim achieved by the annual performance of “The Good Time Christmas Carol,” a kids’ show was suddenly on the horizon.
“[About three years ago] The Huntington Children’s Museum contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in putting together a kids’ show,” Michael recalled. “I had already been thinking about it.”
Michael’s inspiration for The Good Time Kids’ Show grew out of his childhood memories of “Mr. Cartoon,” a classic WSAZ Saturday morning childrens’ program.
“Mr. Cartoon – his name was Jule Huffman,” Michael explained. “He was the weather man at WSAZ, but his alter-ego was Mr. Cartoon. Kids would go down to the studio, sit on bleachers, play games and watch cartoons.”
Mr. Cartoon’s non-verbal sidekick, Michael added, was named “Beeper.”
“Beeper only communicated by honking a horn,” Michael said. “He was Mr. Cartoon’s little buddy. As I started thinking of ideas for a kids’ show, I thought, ‘Man, I wonder if I could be the captain of a ship, and have Beeper as one of the crew members.”
Michael didn’t have to wonder for long. After speaking with his friend Tim Irr – current WSAZ anchor, and the man behind “Ebeneezer Scrooge” in The Good Time Christmas Carol – Beeper’s participation in the first two kids’ shows was secured.
“I just thought it was so much fun,” Michael noted. “He could only communicate by beeping a horn, so I could understand what he was saying but nobody else could.”
“We had a lot of fun with me responding to the beeps,” Michael added.
With Beeper now firmly established as a crew member of the Starship Honey Badger, Michael decided it was time to introduce a new character.
“Naturally with a science fiction kids’ show, you want to have a robot,” Michael said. “So we built a robot named Robespierre.”
Similar to the Christmas show, The Good Time Kids’ Show offers an immersive, interactive experience for those in attendance.
“We have a half-hour of music before the show,” Michael noted. “We’ll just play songs as the kids are coming in and sitting down. Another part of the show that’s really cool is the kids – if they want to – they sit on the stage.”
“They’re a part of it – right there in the action,” Michael added.
Aside from the The Carpenter Ants, additional Good Time Christmas Carol alumni participating in the Kids’ Show include Sasha Collette, professional wrestler and entertainer extraordinaire Death Falcon Zero, and Michael’s co-captain, Angel Davila.
And best of all – especially for families on a budget…
“It’s a totally free show,” Michael said. “The Foundry Theatre is letting us use the space for free, and their only hope is that people buy some concessions.”
The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, at the Foundry Theatre in the Jean Carlo Stephenson Auditorium, located at 800 5th Avenue in Huntington. The Good Time Kids’ Show will begin at 6:30.
For more information, visit The Good Time Show on Facebook.
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