Song Samples
Full Song List
1. "Going West"
2. "Gotta Get a Move On"
3. "Let’s Go to France"
4. "Getting Lost in America"
5. "Trail of Tears"
6. "Load up the Prairie Schooner"
7. "To the Gold Rush"
8. "We’re Sodbusters, Buster"
9. "The Golden Spike/Going West (reprise)
Casting
Flexible casting from 11-40 students.
Use as many Explorers, Discovery Guys, etc. as desired;
one student can also play more than one role. Note that all
roles can be played by either boys or girls; see our comments
on page 35 of the Teacher's Guide .
Script
This is the first one-third of the script:
CHARACTERS:
Delivery Girl(s)
Daniel Boone and Explorers
Porter
James Monroe
Thomas Jefferson
St. Louis Man
Corps of Discovery Guys
Sacajawea
Cherokee
Wagon Family
49ers
Prairie Children
Union Pacific Crew
Central Pacific Crew
Chorus (made up of all students not playing roles at the time)
(KIDS move quickly back and forth across the stage, entering and exiting.
THEY carry suitcases, dufflebags, etc.—in general they look like
they’re
in a hurry and going some place. A DELIVERY GIRL enters with a
package. SHE tries to stop several people walking by, but they move
swiftly past.)
DELIVERY GIRL (to one person): Excuse me, I was wondering…
(to another person)
Pardon me, I’m looking for…
(to a third person)
Hey, do you know where I can find…
(looking frustrated, SHE stops and shouts very loudly to no one
in particular)
Has anybody here seen Daniel Boone?!
(EVERYONE stops and stares; people finally notice her)
PERSON #1: Daniel Boone? He’s been gone for weeks.
DELIVERY GIRL: But I’ve got a package for him, special delivery.
Here, listen.
(SHE shakes box very hard—rattling can be heard)
I think it’s cookies.
PERSON #2: Well he’s long gone by now.
DELIVERY GIRL: But where did he go?
PERSON #1: Where’d he go? Why he went where
EVERYBODY’S going.
DELIVERY GIRL: Where IS everybody going?
ENTIRE CLASS: West!
DELIVERY GIRL: West?
Song 1 -
Listen now!
CLASS (sings):
Now so many people are leaving town
The dust is thick as fog
STUDENTS #1 and #2:
There goes my boss, there goes Aunt Jane
STUDENT #3:
And hey there goes my dog!
STUDENT #4:
I’m trying to find a good place to farm
Where we can start anew
CLASS:
Now all the country’s westward bound
STUDENT #3:
My cat is packing too!
CLASS:
We’re going West
Going West
Can’t you see?
Destiny
Is manifest
’Cause everyone is going West.
STUDENT #5:
I look for adventure and space to roam
STUDENT #6:
I’m running from my debts
STUDENT #7:
I’m looking for a pot of gold
STUDENT #3:
I’m looking for my pets.
STUDENT #8:
Does anyone know the best place to go?
Or which route you should take?
STUDENT #9:
Has anybody checked a map?
STUDENT #3:
Has someone seen my snake?
CLASS (screams): Aaach!
We’re going West
Going West
Can’t you see?
Destiny
Is manifest
’Cause everyone is going West
’Cause everyone is going West
’Cause everyone is going West.
(CLASS exits. DANIEL BOONE walks in, carrying an ax and wearing
his famous coonskin cap. He stops, looks all around, seems pleased and
stops for a moment. He takes off his cap and starts talking to it. At
this
point a student can mark on the map the move west towards Louisville:
see page 34.)
DANIEL BOONE: Well, Betsy, it looks like we’ve finally found some
true wilderness. It’s getting’ so there just ain’t
a decent spot that isn’t all
clogged up with civilization. I think you and me can set up camp here
and
find some peace and quiet.
DELIVERY GIRL (entering a few seconds later, excited): Daniel Boone!
Daniel Boone! I’ve been looking all over the Appalachians for you.
DANIEL (quickly putting cap back on; to DELIVERY GIRL): Who
are you?
DELIVERY GIRL: I’ve got a box for you.
DANIEL: How’d you find me? I’ve been tryin’ to avoid
folks like you.
DELIVERY GIRL: I just followed your trail—you really ought to
take
a bath.
DANIEL: I did. Just three months ago.
(Taking off cap and talking to it.)
Must be you, Betsy.
(Putting back on cap)
That does it. Time to move on—it’s getting crowded around
here.
Song 2 -
Listen now!
Oh I discovered yesterday
There’s neighbors 50 miles away
It’s hard to breathe, I’ve gotta flee
A man can’t get no privacy.
I find some place not on the map
To hunt some deer and set some traps
I turn around, what do I find?
A swarm of people right behind!
(At the word “SWARM,” several WILDERNESS EXPLORERS enter,
dressed just like DANIEL BOONE)
DANIEL:
Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo):
Gotta get a move on
DANIEL:
Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo):
Gotta get a move on
DANIEL:
Leave me be or else I just might snap.
Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo):
Gotta get a move on
DANIEL:
Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo):
Gotta get a move on
DANIEL:
It’s just me and my old coonskin cap.
Kentucky’s just too cramped for me
There’re hundreds now in Tennessee
And every time I settle down
Some folks decide to build a town!
(More EXPLORERS could enter here)
DANIEL: Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo): Gotta get a move on
DANIEL: Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo): Gotta get a move on
DANIEL: Leave me be or else I just might snap.
Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo): Gotta get a move on
DANIEL: Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo): Gotta get a move on
DANIEL: It’s just me and my old coonskin cap.
DANIEL and CHORUS:
Gotta get a move on
Gotta get a move on
Gotta get a move on
Gotta get a move on
DANIEL: Leave me be or else I just might snap.
Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo): Gotta get a move on
DANIEL: Gotta get a move on
EXPLORERS (echo): Gotta get a move on
DANIEL and CHORUS: It’s just me and my old coonskin cap.
(exit)
(We now see a DELIVERY GIRL walking up to a very fancy door.
SHE knocks. A PORTER answers.)
PORTER: Yes?
DELIVERY GIRL: I’ve got a package for James Monroe.
PORTER: I’m sorry, but he’s unavailable.
DELIVERY GIRL: Don’t tell me HE’s gone West too?
PORTER: No. Mr. Monroe is speaking with President Jefferson at the
moment. In secret. Big stuff. VERY big stuff. Hush, hush, very very secret.
DELIVERY GIRL: Can I listen in?
PORTER: Sure, come on in.
(MONROE and JEFFERSON enter, talking.)
MONROE: Mr. President, this is our chance. I think Napoleon will sell
us the Louisiana territory—all the land between the Mississippi
and
the Rockies.
(HE points it out on giant map)
JEFFERSON: What? That’s 800,000 square miles! I was thinking
perhaps we could buy just New Orleans, Florida, maybe get some of
those little chocolate thingies in the bargain.
MONROE: You mean truffles?
JEFFERSON: I LOVE those. And some toast. Nobody makes toast like
the French.
MONROE: But Mr. President—think of it. The Louisiana Purchase.
You’d double the size of the nation with one signature.
JEFFERSON: What about those truffles?
MONROE: Sure, we could get some them too!
Song 3 -
Listen now!
Let’s go to France and do some shopping
Let’s go to France and buy some stuff
Perfume, pastries, fancy clothes
The other folks can buy all those
We need land, we just can’t have enough!
CLASS: La la la la
JEFFERSON and MONROE:
Let’s go to France and do some shopping
Let’s go to France and eat some snails
When the escargot are escargone
Let’s buy the Rockies and beyond
I hear half the continent’s on sale!
It’s just three cents an acre
We’ve got that kind of dough
We’ll take 500 million
Please wrap ’em up to go.
JEFFERSON, MONROE, and CHORUS:
Let’s go to France and do some shopping
Let’s go to France and buy some land
JEFFERSON (shouted): And some truffles!
JEFFERSON, MONROE, and CHORUS:
The U.S. now is twice the size
That sure is one of our better buys
Let’s head west and get ourselves a tan.
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la land.
(ALL exit. DELIVERY GIRL has a package.)
DELIVERY GIRL (walking along, shouting): Meriwether Lewis,
Meriwether Lewis. I have a package here for Meriwether Lewis.
MAN (approaching): Excuse me, but you aren’t looking for Meriwether
Lewis, as in Lewis and Clark the explorers, are you?
DELIVERY GIRL: Yes I am. That’s why I’ve come to St. Louis.
MAN: But Lewis and Clark left a year ago, searching for the great
Northwest passage, the fabled water route from here to the Pacific.
DELIVERY GIRL: Nuts.
MAN: Excuse me?
DELIVERY GIRL: I’ve got a box full of nuts for Mr. Lewis. Pecans.
Cashews. They’re very good.
(Opening box, offering some to stranger)
Want one? I think there’re some left.
MAN: No thanks.
DELIVERY GIRL (Walking on, shouting): Meriwether Lewis.
Meriwether Lewis.
MAN: Didn’t you hear me? He’s long gone.
DELIVERY GIRL: I know. But I love saying the word Meriwether.
MAN: I wonder how those two men and their Corps of Discovery
are doing.
(CORPS OF DISCOVERY GUYS enter, looking pretty dirty and
beat-up, talking to SACAJAWEA, the Shoshone wife of one of
the guides)
CORPS GUY #1: Please, Sacajawea. You were born in these parts.
You can guide us through the Shoshone territory.
SACAJAWEA: But it has been many years since I lived with the Shoshone.
CORPS GUY #2: We need your help—I’m not sure Lewis and Clark
know what they’re doing.
Song 4
CORPS GUYS:
Looking for a northwest passage
Looking for the sea
Hoping that the hungry grizzlies
Aren’t looking for me.
Stumbling through a land uncharted
It’s no walk in the park
Getting lost in America…with Lewis and Clark.
SACAJAWEA:
Maybe I can recall the land of my childhood.
Maybe I can recall the land of my childhood.
CORPS GUYS:
Looking for a water highway
We’ve found lots of mud
Flees, tics, and immense mosquitoes
They’ve drained off our blood.
Seen so many wondrous creatures
We should have an ark
Getting lost in America…with Lewis and Clark.
SACAJAWEA:
Maybe I can recall the land of my childhood.
Maybe I can recall the land of my childhood.
CORPS GUYS:
Sacajawea please help us
Sacajawea lead the way
Sacajawea
It’s so good to see ya
Give us some help today.
SACAJAWEA:
I’ll help and we’ll find the passage
We will find the sea
Read maps and consult your compass
Then just follow me.
SACAJAWEA, CORPS GUYS, CHORUS:
Stumbling through a land uncharted
It’s no walk in the park
Getting lost in America…with Lewis and Clark.
(This concludes the first one-third of the script.)
Additional Comments and Reviews:
"It was truly incredible! It fit in so well with our curriculum
and the boys
absolutely loved it. Parents told us again and again that it was the
best kids' play
they had ever seen. We loved the songs and the script. It was great how
the play
had so many parts, allowing all of the kids to have significant (and
our case multiple)
roles to play. Everyone was a star!"
---Kim Iorillo, Teacher (3rd grade), Brunswick School, Greenwich, CT
"My class performs a Bad Wolf Press play every year, and it is always a hit! This year with our new Common Core Units, The Incredible Westward Movement has fit in perfectly. It has been a great resource to supplement with our Idaho History to provide students the research they need for their ELA performance task! Thank you!"
---Candy Franscella, Teacher, Washington Elementary, Pocatello, ID
"During my ten years teaching fifth grade, I alternated 13 Colonies with Incredible Westward Movement. The 8th grade history teacher told me that all MY students knew the 13 colonies and the basics about Manifest Destiny. Students had SO MUCH FUN learning the material and remembered it YEARS later. The plays help the historical characters come alive for the kids."
---Vicky Hill, Teacher (5th grade), Oak Grove School, CA
"Fifth graders used this play as their culmination (graduation to middle school) play and it was a great triumph. I liked the lyrics, the music, the tone of the play. It took a historical subject (the Westward Movement) with all its layers of complexities, and dealt with problems, joys, struggles, triumphs, with humor and simplicity and created a memorable experience for the 9- and 10-year-olds involved. The scenes are funny. That's the highest compliment I can pay. Funny is the most difficult thing to write and Bad Wolf succeeds.
"I am their theatre teacher and found the material engaging and very useful for teaching staging, acting skills and musical theatre techniques. The students learned theatre discipline and performance skills. And were they thrilled with the audience reaction! When I was told about Bad Wolf Press, I was afraid it would be like a lot of 'children's theatre,' i.e. simplistic, three-chords songs. Instead, we got engaging, challenging music with clever, funny, sometimes heartfelt lyrics -- real musical theatre adapted to our grade level."
---Suzanne Collins, Theater Teacher (4th-5th grades), Los Angeles Unified School District, CA
"It was fun! We loved the songs and the best part was using our
creativity to make the play come to life with props, constumes, and actions.
Performing was a great highlight in our year! I found the play a great
enrichment to our studies - Everyone was a part of a great play and felt
terrific about it. We always had something to do as a time filler -sing!"
---Amy Piazzola, Teacher, (1st-5th grade), Numa School, Fallon, NZ
"Great! The easy-to-follow script, catchy songs, and added humor
make the
production a delight for all (students, teachers, and parents!)"
--- Lisa Boothe, Teacher (3rd/5th grade), Carl Hankey School, Mission
Viejo, CA
"The Incredible Westward Movement is a great history program, with
easy scenes
and lots of characters. What a way to learn and remember history. You
can't get
the songs out of your head. Personalities shine through music: everyone
gets a
chance to be on stage."
---Jane Bishop, Teacher (4th grade), Broadwater School, Helena, MT
"There were many big parts and enough for everyone, but no 'star'
parts. The music
was wonderful! The students loved it. The whole process was a great
learning experience."
---Robin Twombley, Teacher (K-6th grades), Roxbury Village School, Roxbury,
VT
"The music is catchy, so the kids never forgot the lyrics. They
learned key concepts
while having fun. I can't wait until the next one! I teach the kids in
the gifted
program in my system. Some love to be center-stage while others have
no desire
to perform solo. These plays allow me to give them opportunities to participate
at
a level at which each chld is comfortable."
---Shelia Cain, Teacher (1st-2nd grade, Gifted and Talented), Petham
Elementary, Petham, GA
Frequently Asked Questions About Bad Wolf Products and Licensing
How does your pricing and licensing work?
A: In short: each teacher/director using the play should have a copy of it. That's it! Your purchase gives you the right to use the play with as many classes as you wish, to photocopy the script for your actors, and to put on as many performances as you wish. This one-time purchase gives you a lifetime license. See below for more information on site licenses (for 3+ teachers or whole schools).
Q: What comes in the package?
A: Every musical play comes with the script and a 12-page Teacher's Guide that provides lots of tips and advice for using the play from start to finish. It also includes the audio recording for the play, which has all the songs both WITH and WITHOUT vocals. Sheet music is NOT included with the basic package, but it is available for $12. Extra/replacement CDs are also available for $12.
Every non-musical play comes with the script and the 12-page Teacher's Guide.
Q: I'm just one teacher putting on a play. If I use the play with multiple classes, do I have to purchase multiple licenses?
A: No! Your purchase gives you a lifetime license to be used with as many actors and classes as you wish. If other teachers/directors wish to use the play as well, they will need to purchase their own licenses.
Q: Do I need to purchase scripts for students?
A: No! Your purchase includes permission to photocopy the script for your actors.
Q: What is a "site license"? How do I know if I need one?
A site license is the economical choice when a whole school or grade level wants to put on the same play. Instead of each teacher/director having to purchase a script, the school/site can purchase
a site license. This comes with three copies of the play (or one digital download) and permission to make copies for any additional participating teachers, as well as all the actors. You do NOT need to purchase both a site license and individual copies of the play; just buy one or the other.
Q: I understand that I can get two or more scripts for $35 each. Do they have to be the same play?
Nope! The discount applies whether you are purchasing multiple copies of the same show or single copies of multiple shows.
Q: What is the difference between the printed and digital versions? Which one should I get?
There is no difference in terms of content. The printed version of a musical play comes with an audio CD in a plastic sleeve in the back of the book. The digital version comes with two downloadable files: the script (PDF format) and the songs (individual MP3 files compressed in ZIP format). The advantage of the digital version is that you will not pay shipping and you can start using it instantly. Please read the question following this one about the technical requirements for digital files.
Non-musical plays are available in the form of a printed book or a PDF file.
Q: What are the technical requirements for the digital version?
- You will need to have Adobe Reader (free) or another software application that can open PDF files.
- You will need to be able to open ZIP files. The vast majority of computers should be able to do this without difficulty. If you wish to download the music directly to your phone or tablet, you will need to download an app that will open ZIP files. Many free ones are available.
- You will need to have some kind of audio player (such as iTunes or Windows Media Player) that will play MP3 files.
Advanced technical knowledge is not required; but please note that we do not have the ability to offer technical support for issues related to digital files. If you are unsure, it is probably best to stick with the printed version.
Q: What is your return/exchange policy?
A: Bad Wolf proudly offers a 100% guarantee. You can always exchange a product for another or get a full refund. No time limits, no questions.
Q: Is it OK if I edit the script?
A: Yes! Consider the play to be a jumping-off point. You are always welcome to change or omit anything that doesn't work for your class, administration, or parents. You are welcome to rewrite
lyrics, lines, or jokes -- or add your own! (The kids love doing this, by the way.)
Q: How long does shipping take?
A: We say that you should allow for one week within the U.S., but most orders are shipped the same day and arrive 1-3 days later. International orders usually take around two weeks to arrive.
Q: Do I need to pay any performance royalties?
A: As long as your admission price is less than $5 per ticket, you never need to pay performance royalties with a Bad Wolf show. If you decide to charge more than $5 a ticket, or if you are using one of our plays for a PAID workshop, camp, assembly, etc., pay only a low 1-2% royalty on gross revenues. See our royalty page to view the rates and pay.