Behind the wooden fence of Haystack Farm the animals lead a contented and idyllic existence. Plenty of food, warm beds, lots of mud (for those who like it!) and good friends. Roddy the rooster keeps watch over all of them and each animal has a role to play in making Haystack Farm the place they all want to be.
But the animals on Haystack are in for a shock when a new and glossy rooster comes to live on the farm. His arrival stirs up problems never encountered before. Loyalties are questioned, self-doubt creeps in and selfishness abounds. All this threatens the peaceful existence that the animals have known.  

It is not until disaster threatens and lives are at stake that the animals realise that true friendships rely not on looks, and that loyalty and support mean far more than trophies and prizes.

Testimonial

I felt that this (The Rooster Who Couldn’t Crow”) was a really high quality musical for young students.  I liked it that it wasn't a "dumbed" down version of an adult musical, in other words, that it was specifically written for children.  I think this is important.  As educators, we know that children think differently at different stages, therefore appropriateness is important.  However, that did not mean that enjoyment by adults was compromised.  All during the rehearsals, we (the teachers) had a ball because the dialogue and characters were so funny and there was an adult level of humour as well as child's, without it becoming inappropriate. 

Personally, I really dislike "junior" versions of adult musicals.  I don't think it matters how well you do them, they never are quite right.

On the music side of the production, the company numbers were most appropriate because they were semi-predicatable without being boring, which meant that even after only seeing the musical once, people went away with theme songs on their minds.  Please don't think that semi-predictable is a slight on the composition, just that if there were all unusual chord structres etc, people would not be able go away singing.  The solos and duets were just beautiful and really musically satisfying.

It was great having the accompaniment CD as this left me with "hands-free" to teach movement and concentrate on the singing.

Robyn Stavely
Junior School Music Co-ordinator
Wenona Girls’ School
Sydney