Stretching the imagination

In a generation when children spoiled by CGI and high resolution gaming get a bad reputation for having short attention spans, a roomful of kids defied societal norms and sat still Friday night as a man with tennis balls tied to his arm acted like a talking frog. \nMeet local performer Malcolm Dalglish: singer, storyteller, spoons, bones, and homemade hammer dulcimer man. He brought his one-man Wild, Wild Word Show to Bloomington Friday night as part of the Bloomington Community Theater Family Series presented by the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre and Bloomington Parks & Recreation. Everyone in attendance was at least temporarily happier for having met him.\n"I liked the part when he was being silly," said Ricardo Marrero, 5, of Bloomington. He easily could have been referring to any portion of Dalglish's strange and original repertoire. \nRicardo's mother, Paula, was equally delighted.\n"This is our first time seeing (Dalglish) and we would absolutely come back to do it again," she said.\nJust minutes before 7 p.m., the BCT gurgled and buzzed with the clamor of the OshKosh begotten and their parents, all parties on their best public behavior. \nLopsided and awkward in the middle of a single-lit stage, something like a solitary trapezoid waited. This was the hammer dulcimer, looking more like an outdated motherboard or a sixteenth-century stool than anything the Wiggles might wield. The children, for their part, remained unfazed in the presence of what boring, antiquated buffoonery could have been lying ahead. \n"I love Malcolm Dalglish!" exclaimed one youngster shuffling to his seat, "He is my best friend." \nAnother loudly announced during the performance, "That is a funny joke!" \nDalglish had not even delivered the punchline. \nDo not, however, equate a warm welcome with an easy crowd. Dalglish brings a lifetime of experience to the stage. He is an expert who knows and loves what he is doing, and he does it extremely well.\nThe performer is quoted in the press release for the event as saying, "I like to spark kids to be expressive, and to follow the inclinations of their imagination. I try to show that there is talent in the joy and love of doing something and one's tenacity to move and please an audience."\nDanielle McLelland, executive director of the BCT and emcee for Friday's performance, was accordingly moved and pleased. \n"I first saw Malcolm Dalglish performing on the side of a hill with about 100 people doing whatever he told them to do," she mentioned in recognition of Dalglish's ability to enchant an audience.\nBefore introducing the versatile entertainer, she told the crowd, "Be big and loud and get really involved!" People listened. Old and young sang when they were supposed to, responded when asked to, and laughed whenever they very well wanted, which was often. Dalglish seamlessly ran through a routine that roughly consisted of (but could not fairly be limited to) a story as told by Byron the Wide-Mouthed Frog, an improvisation (and lesson on pitch) using a plastic water bottle, and percussive tutorials and demonstrations of the hammer dulcimer, bones, and spoons. He coolly kept it all within the confines of a single hour.\n"When I learned to do that," Dalglish told the audience with his voice at a gruff country whisper in reference to a frenetic display of spoon-playing, "things changed for me."\nThings may very well have changed for this assembly of dazzled children as well, many of whom stayed after the performance to learn a little more about some of Malcolm's homemade instruments in a workshop led by Bloomington Parks and Recreation. Not a single imagination was left untouched by Malcolm Dalglish that evening, and everyone left the Buskirk-Chumley with a newly sparked appreciation of simple pleasures. \nAfterwards, Hadley Knaus, 5, said of her experience, "My favorite part was when he sang 'Whatcha-wanna-whatcha-wanna-whatcha-wanna-do.'"\nHer father, Terry, liked the spoon playing but commented, "I'll probably wait until tomorrow morning before giving (Hadley) a set (of spoons with which to play)." \nThe next performance in line for the BCT Family Series takes place 7 p.m. August 5 when Cheney & Mills in "Human Cartoons and Juggling Theatricks" hit the stage. Tickets are $2 for kids 12 and under, and $5 for adults. Following the performance will be a free interactive workshop of juggling techniques and silly human tricks led by Bloomington Parks and Recreation. This series is sponsored by AM 1370 WGCL and FC Tucker/OBR Realtors with support from the Bloomington Area Arts Council, Inc., the Indiana Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Visit www.buskirkchumley.org for more information on ticketing and upcoming performances.