On Aug. 22, Brown County kids were on the edge of their seats, listening to robot animals Lion and Unicorn sing their sadness, and watching Mooch weave herself into life in a zoo set in a futuristic world, sealed off from nature as we know it. In this imaginary world nature was feared, and every living thing was trapped inside sealed domes. Unicorn knew she was really a horse with a fake horn, and poor Lion couldn’t roar.
Mooch, a girl technical whiz, appeared at the zoo and started to work her magic. As Orlando the zookeeper and scientist napped, Mooch tinkered with the animals, bit by bit restoring them to their original animal selves. But when Orlando woke up, he was afraid. The animals wanted to be wild! Would his fear take over? Would he send Mooch away?
“Mooch” is also a love story. As Orlando watched Lion and Unicorn come to life, his memories of childhood slowly returned. He grew nostalgic about the nature he had once so loved. And who was Mooch, anyway? She revealed she’d never had parents. Instead, she was the result of a genetic experiment in a futuristic science lab! So how do you explain her love for nature? But the wild was still scary. Orlando was wanted to pull the switch, turn off the animals. And he’d come to love Mooch like a daughter! Fear and love swung back and forth. Finally, he swapped his fear of nature for the love of being a father to Mooch. She gained the father she never had, and he, the daughter. Mooch led Lion and Unicorn outside, and Orlando came too. Love is stronger than fear. Kids and adults needed, and welcomed, the happy ending of old love restored, and new love discovered.
Questions and answers followed. Nearly every hand shot up. How do you learn to sing? Where can we learn to sing? How old was Parrot? How did Unicorn’s hooves go clop-clop? Unicorn peeled the long white socks from her hooves to reveal hands encased in big plastic tumblers. (How many kids went home and tried it themselves!) Kids cried, We want more Mooch. Will there be Mooch Part 2? Mooch Part 3?
The final question to the cast: Where are you going now? (The kids wanted to come along.) The answer brought down the house: “To lunch.”
Mooch had stolen everyone’s heart and no one wanted to go home.
Thanks go to composer Lauren Bernofsky and her talented and charming cast and musicians, our generous host Parkview Church of the Nazarene in Nashville and ChamberFest Brown County 2024.
