Weary of the Wiggles? Done with Dora? Then perhaps you could use a serving of Biscuits, as in the fabulous Biscuit Brothers, who could just be the Next Big Thing in the realm of kindertainment, and they’re from right here in Austin.
The Biscuits are Dustin Cornelius (“Dusty”) and Buford Methuselah (that’s right, “B.M.”), a couple of corn-fed, cornpone barnyard bumpkins working on Old McDonald’s Farm – or not working, as their crusty old boss sees it. Whenever he has chores to be done, those Biscuit boys are plucking on banjos, strumming guitars, singing – in short, making music. And therein lies their connection to the 7-and-under set: They introduce children to instruments, songs, and musical concepts such as rhythm and pitch through games, riddles, sing-alongs, and slapstick. Imagine Benjamin Britten having written his Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra on Green Acres.
Longtime musical theatre artists Jerome Schoolar (Esther’s Follies, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story) and Allen Robertson (resident musical director at the Zachary Scott Theatre Center) cooked up the Biscuits, as it were, for Zach’s Playscape children’s theatre series and have been delighting young audiences (and not a few adults) with their show E.I.E.I.O. for years. With the help of old friend Damon Brown, director of the recent Burning Man documentary Beyond Black Rock, they adapted the concept to television, adding a real farm, some animal puppets (would you believe Sheryl Crow?), 3D animation (courtesy of local firm Animation Farm), distaff Biscuit sister Buttermilk, played by Jill Leberknight (The World Goes ‘Round), visits to artists, and a plot of sorts that communicates something fundamental about music. The pilot episode, shot on location at Pioneer Farms, revolves around a search for some missing musical instruments, during which the Biscuits pay a call on a workshop where guitars are made.
What makes the show successful – and makes the Biscuits candidates for Raffi-level superstardom – is the same stuff that worked on stage: immensely appealing characters, infectious energy, musical skill, and humor that scores with the target audience but has its sly references that will tickle their parents’ funny bones as well. Check out their Web site – www.biscuitbrothers.com – for album covers that are picture-perfect parodies of Meet the Beatles and Saturday Night Fever or the moody photo in the gallery that represents the brothers’ alt.country portrait. Like the Muppets and Bullwinkle, the Biscuits are simultaneously silly and smart.
Small wonder, then, that the show has generated a lot of interest and enough backing for Robertson, Schoolar, and Brown to produce a season of episodes. Local PBS affiliate KLRU is on board with Biscuits and will premiere the pilot this weekend with a live in-studio appearance by the Biscuit boys. Then in the spring of 2005, the series will become a staple in the station’s Saturday morning lineup.
Now is a good time to turn on the wee one in your world – or your own inner pretweener – to this homegrown treat, before the whole world is hungry for Biscuits.
The pilot episode of the Biscuit Brothers will air Saturday, Dec. 4, 10am, on KLRU. For more information, visit www.biscuitbrothers.com.
This article appears in December 3 • 2004.