Introduction
Hold onto yer horses and get ready for a true tale from the Good Book like you’ve never heard it before!
Summary
Jonah, the prophet of Israel sends and receives telegraphs to and from the Living God on behalf of the people, and all is fine, until the Lord tells him to go to that “dirty, rotten, flea-bitten foreign city called Ninevah” and preach against it! So, wouldn’t ya’ know it, instead of boardin’ the east-bound train to Ninevah, Jonah hops a west-bound stage to Tarshish!
When a big storm comes up on the prairie, threatening to blow the stage over, the driver rolls the dice and up comes Jonah’s number as the one who must be angering “the gods.” Jonah confesses that he is running the opposite direction from what Jehovah instructed him, and he is thrown off the stage and lands in a … well (say it with yer best cowboy twang!). No, not a whale … an old, abandoned well, where he languishes for 3 days and 3 nights. And … you know what happens from there! Once again, like in all Little Big Stuff musicals, it all points to Jesus, and the Good News of the gospel.
Approximate Performance Time
45 minutes
Cast List/Character Descriptions
There are 19 speaking roles and 4-8 non-speaking roles available for casting in Jonah’s Druthers. Any of the roles may be played by a boy or a girl with only slight name modifications in the script. The indications below show how we recorded them on the demonstration recording. Many roles could be played by older youth or adults.
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Name | Character | Gender | What They’re Like ... | No. of Scenes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cowboy 1 | Narrator | Girl | Friendly gal who sets up the story in a fun way! | 2 |
Cowboy 2 | Narrator | Boy | Friendly fellow who sets up the story in a fun way! | 2 |
Jonah | Prophet of God (Lead) | Boy | Dedicated prophet who takes his job very seriously. Pious at times, yet humble. Quite opinionated, he lets that stand in the way of good judgment in some of his choices in life. | 7 |
Mabel | Proprietor of the Gully Washers (Lead) | Girl | Bossy, but likeable leader of the Gully Washers. Very businesslike and matter of fact in her dealings with people. Takes good care of her workers. | 4 |
Mary Jo | Washer woman of Ninevah | Girl | Hardworking Gully Washer who enjoys visiting with her co-workers and having her free time. Loyal to her job and never misses work. | 4 |
Nellie | Washer woman of Ninevah | Girl | Funloving part of the Gully Washer team. Loves to visit and catch up on all the news in town. Grateful for the opportunity to work with Mabel. | 4 |
Lauralee | Washer woman of Ninevah | Girl | Ditzy, kindhearted Gully Washer, ready and willing to talk about anything and is always ready to take on work. | 4 |
Swifty | Telegraph operator for Ninevah (Lead) | Girl | Tomboy ready for adventure. Considers herself to be Jonah’s assistant, but not in any official capacity. Persistent in carrying out all of her so called duties. | 4 |
Betty Sue | Owner of the local boarding house | Girl | Friendly Boardinghouse owner. Motherly type who wants to keep everyone fed and happy. | 1 |
Brother | Jonah’s brother | Boys | Man of few words. | 1 |
Marshall | Marshall of Way Out West | Boy | Honest and respected law enforcement official. Speaks with the voice of authority. | 1 |
Sarah | Passenger in stage coach | Girl | A “Mother hen” who is committed to protecting her children. Nervous about the storm. | 1 |
Caroline | Young daughter of Sarah | Girl | Sarah’s quiet young child, frightened by storm, and sticking close to Mom. | 1 |
Driver | Stagecoach driver | Boy | Rough and tumble stagecoach driver to Tarshish. Doing his job with “no nonsense.” | 1 |
Carnival Barker | Carnival worker in Ninevah | Girl | Out to make a buck. Has no problem cheating others out of their hard-earned money. | 1 |
Shady Citizen | Street vendor in Ninevah | Boy | Seller of false idols in Ninevah. Opportunistic, greedy, willing to trade on the hopes and fears of others, and can’t see why that would bother anyone. | 1 |
Sheriff | Sheriff of Ninevah | Boy | Unlike the Marshall of “Way Out West,” the Sheriff in Ninevah, a town full of criminals, is somewhat “shady” | 1 |
Mayor | Mayor of Ninevah | Boy | Politician who likes the limelight, but who heeds Jonah’s warning, and leads the people to public repentance. | 1 |
Mrs. Mayor | Wife of the Mayor of Ninevah | Girl | Pretty, polished, with “every hair in place.” Stands by her man, the Mayor. | 1 |
Questions or Special Requests?
Are you hoping to record your performance on video and make DVDs or put it up on the web? Please don't hesitate to contact us for this license or any other special requests or questions and we will be happy to help! Visit the Contact Page for more information.
Listen to the Musical
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No Choir Members Allowed!
Note to Directors
Dear Director,
We have provided the entire audio recording of all our musicals on this site to assist you in thoroughly evaluating the musical. We invite you to listen as many times as you wish, and even to invite your assistants or other choir helpers to come here to help you in evaluating the musical.
However, we ask you to please understand that we have not posted the recording here so that your choir members may utilize this audio to learn the musical, thereby avoiding purchase of the printed scores and/or recordings which are available for sale. Producing a great musical like this requires much work by dedicated writers, and much expense on the part of the publisher.
Simply put, if you use this free audio recording, which is provided for your convenience in evaluating the musical, as the tool to teach the music to the children in the choir instead of purchasing the products for the children, then we cannot afford to create musicals like this. We rely on the income from the purchase of our products (including some great lower-cost options like Bulk CDs, reproducible scripts and lyrics, and reproducible recordings) to fund the expense of producing this project for you.
Thank you for understanding!
SoundFX
For those who are performing with "live" accompaniment, we provide a free download of the Sound Effects on the SoundFX Page, or by clicking the download link below!
Graphics Files
Free graphics files for promotion and signage. Download by clicking the "Download Graphics (.zip)" link below.
REPRODUCIBLE OPTIONS
Save money, enjoy more flexibility
We are happy to offer these special licensing options to make your life easier:
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Reproducible Script & Lyrics
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- We provide you with a master file of the drama script and song lyrics (text only, no music score), and a license granting you legal permission to print copies for your kids, copy and paste into PowerPoint or other projection program to use in rehearsals and performance, print on a white board or flip chart. In fact, you can do all of these if you wish.
- You tell us the total quantity of users, and you pay $2.99 per user regardless of whether you print out copies for them every week, or use only projection, etc. The fee is not “per copy,” but “per user.” If you pay for 25 now, and end up with 35 later, you just return here, log in to your account, and pay for the additional users. Or, if the quantity you need to add is less than the default minimum of 15 allowed by the shopping cart, please just email us at dave@littlebigstuff.com, and tell us how many more you need.
- Along with the huge cost-savings, this option offers great flexibility in that you can easily edit the script, allowing you to add or subtract characters, change names, divide up parts, etc., before printing and distributing to your kids. You can also add in staging cues to fit your situation, or add your own director notes or instructions. You may also print copies to send home, print other copies to keep at church or school, print more copies to send home when the first ones are lost ;-), so that no one ever needs to be caught without their copy.
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Reproducible Script & Lead Sheets
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- Similar to the Script & Lyrics, but the songs are single-stave vocal line scores (just like the choral book) presented in PDF files, while the drama script comes as an easy-to-edit Microsoft Word file. This also offers a tremendous cost savings at just $3.99 per user.
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Reproducible Demo Recording
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- Burn your own CDs for just $5.99 per copy. We provide you with a license granting you full legal permission to either copy an existing CD (perhaps the CD that comes in the back of the Review Pack), or download the recording in MP3 format. Of course, you may prefer to purchase our Bulk CD 10-packs for $69.99 (essentially $6.99 per disc), or you may choose this reproducible option for $5.99 per copy.
- In addition to the cost savings, this can provide some additional flexibility. You can opt for any quantity (5 copy minimum), and not be constrained to quantities of 10. Before burning your CD copies, you can choose exactly what you want on the copied CDs. For example, you may want to leave off the recorded drama dialog on the copies that most of the kids receive, and only include it on copies that the actors receive.
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