When 7-year-old Kyle tells his grandmother he’s bored, she sends him out into the backyard to find a story she’s lost.

That’s the launching point for an original, 50-minute-long children’s show that melds dancing, singing, storytelling and music.

“Jumpin’ Jazz — A Swinging Jungle Tale,” is part of the Imagination Celebration’s Over the Moon Family Theater production “Tales to Tell — A Musical Mashup.” It will play Thursday at the Pikes Peak Center.

The show incorporates a jazz quintet with a symphony orchestra, in this case the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs.

“Jumpin’ Jazz” started out as a collection of separate songs by Boulder resident Mark Oblinger, a composer and performer of jazz music for children who has won numerous awards, including an Emmy in 2009.

Kyle’s search for a lost story in some ways mirrors Oblinger’s own experience: “I was always trying to glue the songs together, to pull a train of thought all the way from one place to another.”

This ambition might have remained unrealized, if it had not been for Colorado Springs composer Steve Barta, who has known Oblinger since the 1970s. Barta suggested that the piece might be scored for orchestra and that he was willing to do it.

Challenged with this offer, Oblinger and his wife, Linda Lawson, were motivated to find the story that ties the songs together.

Oblinger says his goal is to create imaginative work of the highest order for children: “They’re such sponges at these ages and are forming the values they’ll have for the rest of their lives. We need to give them really great performances.”

Conductor Thomas Wilson says, “It’s rare that someone local writes a wonderful new work for children.”

Kyle is played by local break-dancer Jacob Flesher, of Soul Mechanics.

Area vocalist Sylvia Summers plays the grandmother.

Oblinger narrates.

Dancers and singers from the Ormao Dance troupe, the Colorado Springs Conservatory, and the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale, ranging in age from 9 to 17, make up a fanciful herd of jungle animals.

Director Eve Tilley is impressed with how the performers are stretching themselves into unfamiliar territory. Flesher has never acted, most of the children’s chorale members have never danced, and many of the dancers have never sung.

DETAILS

Tales to Tell — A Musical Mashup

When: 7 p.m. Thursday; 6 p.m. exhibits and activities for families

Where: Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave.

Tickets: $8-$15; 520-7469 orpikespeakcenter.com

Attire: Children are invited to wear their pajamas or come dressed as their favorite jungle animals or as great jazz artists.

Extras: A 20-page program/activity book will be handed out before the show, and free milk and cookies will be offered afterward, along with opportunities to meet the performers.

Steve Barta Photo by