KEY POINTS:
What: Buzzy Bee's Big Day Out
Where and when: Ellerslie Racecourse, from today for three weeks, then various Auckland locations followed by a North Island tour
What: Pippi Longstocking
Where and when: PumpHouse Theatre, Takapuna, June 30-July 14
What: Three Little Pigs
Where and when: Bruce Mason Centre, July 10-14
As career starts go, it's not a bad one. Esther Stephens completed a performing arts degree last year, landed one of 12 sought-after spots in the Silo Theatre's Ensemble Project and now has a role which sees her on stage in every scene.
Stephens, a 21-year-old from Howick, will sport flaming red pigtails and mismatched stockings to play Pippi Longstocking at the PumpHouse Theatre these school holidays.
She stars alongside fellow Ensemble Project cast member Sophie Henderson, Louise Harris, Jonathan Martin and Bruce Burfield.
"At first I was daunted, but once the story starts it really rolls along and before you know it, it's over," she says. "Children are very honest and you have to keep the energy levels up in order to maintain their interest."
Stephens recalls dressing as Pippi - the strongest girl in the world - for book-week character parades at primary school and believes the character appeals to children because she lives what appears to be a dream life.
"Pippi is a 9-year-old living on her own with no adults to tell her to stop having fun and go to bed," Stephens says. "She does all the things children want to do but aren't allowed to."
Affectionately described as appealing to the little anarchist inside every small child, Pippi Longstocking was created by unconventional Swedish author Astrid Lindgren in the 1940s.
Her daughter Karin, then bedridden with illness, made up the name (in full it is Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim's Daughter Longstocking) and one of the most enduring characters in children's literature was born.
Pippi courted controversy and some authorities said she showed the bad side of the permissive style of upbringing. But Lindgren defended children's rights, saying good behaviour is natural if children are loved.
Pippi's possible influence on impressionable young minds seems not to worry parents and grandparents. Tim Bray, Pippi Longstocking producer, regularly asks audiences who come to his company's children's shows what they want to see and Pippi Longstocking was a clear favourite.
Bray started work on getting the rights last year. In a coincidence, 2007 is the 100th anniversary of Lindgren's birth. She died in 2002 aged 94.
"I applied around October or November for the rights and had to write a script for approval and then wait. They warned me at the time, 'By the way, we are rather busy organising all these other activities because Astrid would have been 100 this year', so I figured I was in for a long wait."
As time ticked on, Bray began thinking of other shows to stage for the July school holidays but in April his application to stage Pippi was accepted.
Bray says choosing a Pippi was tough. "There were four young women who would have made excellent Pippis, but Esther won out because she is convincing as a girl who is only 9 but capable of living on her own.
"She has a great sense of humour and a wonderful singing voice, too. She brings all this to the role."
When she is not acting, Stephens sings in a couple of bands - Tangent and Motorcity Family Funk Band - and performs weekly at Grey Lynn's Malthouse. She aims to establish herself in New Zealand before travelling to Australia to pursue a career in musical theatre.
"I had six weeks off between The Ensemble Project and starting work on Pippi Longstocking so I guess that was a taste of the unemployed part of being self-employed. You can get bored fairly quickly so it's important to keep looking for new opportunities."
Pippi Longstocking continues after the school holidays for school and early childhood centre performances.
While Pippi Longstocking is on at the PumpHouse, the Bruce Mason Centre has Phineas Phrog Productions' Three Little Pigs for the July break.
A contemporary take on the classic tale, it promises to keep the little ones entertained and grown-ups laughing at the familiar adventures encountered by anyone undertaking a spot of DIY.
Across the bridge, the humble buzzy bee - once the quintessential icon of a Kiwi childhood - comes to life in a travelling stage show. Buzzy Bee's Big Day Out follows an unusual day in the life of Buzzy Bee and his friends in the little town of Rolling Downs. Alan Trussell-Cullen wrote the show and Ben Crowder, whose last children's show was Bad Jelly the Witch, directs. Michael O'Neill and Peter van der Fluit, formerly of the Screaming Meemees, wrote the score.
The show's first stop is in a marquee at Ellerslie Racecourse. It then moves to locations in greater Auckland that include Albany, Devonport, Henderson, Manukau and Howick.
