Schoolhouse Rock!

When Madison Avenue ad man David McCall noticed his son knew nearly every Beatles’ lyric but couldn’t memorize multiplication tables, the idea for the educational series Schoolhouse Rock! was born. From 1973 to 1985, the animated shorts taught young viewers the basics via “Multiplication Rock,” “Grammar Rock,” “America Rock,” “Science Rock,” and the quickly outdated “Computer Rock”: themed seasons ABC’s Saturday morning producers accommodated by cutting three minutes out of 30- and 60-minute programs.  Although the program disappeared from network television in 1985, the original team reunited in the ’90s as well as the aughts to compose new material including “Presidential Minute,” a song created for the 2008 DVD Schoolhouse Rock! Election Collection.  Although “I’m Just a Bill,” “Conjunction Junction,” “The Great American Melting Pot,” and “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here” struck many a chord, Schoolhouse Rock! has arguably touched more with the 1973 song “Three is a Magic Number.” Penned by Bob Dorough, the mathematical tune factored into De La Soul’s debut album and was covered poignantly by the late artists Shannon Hoon (with Blind Mellon) and Jeff Buckley. Bringing the beloved show to life onstage, the Magik’s theatrical adaptation stars full-time company actors James “Apollo” Bradley, Devin Collins, Dylan Collins, Becky King, Ariel Rosen, and Aimee Stead and features favorites and underdogs like “Unpack Your Adjectives,” “Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla,” and “Interplanet Janet.”