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Techniques of Parenting and Performing Blend in a Magical Toy Shop

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<i> Heffley regularly covers children's theater for the Calendar</i>

Ziggy has googly eyes, a feathery topknot and alarmingly long arms. Edgar is of uncertain parentage, with a large nose that seems to be, well, runny . They both live in a cozy cottage perched on a hilltop in Mount Washington.

Lois Young lives there, too. As a matter of fact, you might say it’s her house, even though the singer and her 7-year-old daughter, Amy, are outnumbered by a hoard of captivating puppets (including Ziggy and Edgar) and four oversized cats.

Last year, Young’s puppet musical “Pancakes,” at the Back Alley Theatre in Van Nuys, was a big hit with preschoolers. This year she has returned to the Back Alley with “The Lois Young Show,” a solo revue (she no longer works with an on-stage musician) in which she sings and acts as puppeteer.

In her living room full of books, paintings, folk art, flowers and puppets, Young talked about her new show.

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“It takes place in a magical toy shop,” she said. “I need a gift for my best friend, but the shop is closed. Myrtle the Magician lets me in with a magic word and tells me she’s sure I’ll find what I’m looking for.” (Myrtle, of course, is a puppet.)

“All the toys come to life, and with their help I learn how sensitivity to others, patience, listening, and making someone laugh are gifts--that it’s not what you give, it’s what you give with love.”

Watching this slender, 35-year-old artist speak, it’s easy to see why children so readily adopt her as one of their own. Her enthusiasm is contagious. Her short blond hair swings forward as she animatedly describes the show; her blue eyes widen; she has a wide grin, a chortling laugh and a soft-pitched, sweet voice.

“I’ve had some people say that they can’t imagine a worse nightmare than performing for a roomful of kids,” she said. “But I like it. Because what you see is what you get. There’s no pretension.

“Children know the difference between quality and something that’s just thrown together,” she added. “Some people think they can get away with anything because it’s for kids.”

A Delaware native, Young moved to New York, studied opera at the Manhattan School of Music, and performed in musicals Off-Broadway and experimental theater at La MaMa and the Public Theatre. She then came to Los Angeles and did scores of national TV commercials.

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When Amy was born, motherhood took precedence over acting. Young’s new career began five years ago when she was newly divorced.

“It was a time of great re-evaluation,” she said. “I didn’t want to pursue television, but I knew I had to get back to work. I had started writing songs for Amy and found it so gratifying that I kept writing and thought, ‘This is what I should be doing.’ ”

She produced two children’s cassettes (“A Crack in the Door” and “Pancakes”), but discovered she wanted to perform her songs in public too.

“It came about organically,” she said, with her characteristic laugh. “I had never written children’s music. I had never done anything with puppets. It started with Amy, with my being a parent. I began to take my experiences with her and make them creative.

“Now, what I do is so integrated into my life here with Amy. The puppets are always around; Amy and I are always singing the songs together and doing funny voices. There’s really not much separation.” And that’s fine with Young, who says being a parent “comes first and foremost.”

Young’s songs are the result of interaction with Amy and other children she encounters. “I write about things they feel, the dilemmas they face,” such as sharing, shyness and night fears.

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“Children don’t understand ‘adult’ humor--sarcasm, cynicism. A lot of TV is infused with that. The one thing I try to do is write simply and truthfully.”

The songs are the most important thing to Young, whose trained voice is a lilting soprano. “I don’t really want to be known as a puppeteer,” she began. But then she tenderly picked up puppet Ziggy, lapsing for a moment into Ziggy’s breathless voice.

“He’s a very touchy-feely guy,” she said affectionately. (In the show, Young gives kids an opportunity to touch the cuddliest puppets.)

“He’s the child who gets excited and tongue-tied when he’s eager to tell you something,” she said. “I’ve had kids do that at my performances, and it always touches me.”

Other puppets are Bryan Bear, who likes to be tickled, Lambie, who has trouble going to sleep, and a shy bird named Feathers.

Grown-ups aren’t left out of Young’s performance calculations. “Parents enjoy recognizing their child in the songs.” She said she has given some songs “a contemporary beat that adults will enjoy.”

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To demonstrate, Young snapped her fingers in syncopated rhythm as she scatted a few bars from one of those parent-pleasing songs, “Baby Jazz,” a be-bop takeoff on baby talk performed in the show by a chubby baby doll wearing shades.

Young is now in a regular weekend run at the Back Alley (Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. through May 14), though frequently she still loads up her car with puppets, sets and equipment and drives miles to scattered venues across the Southland, as she did when she was starting out.

But with her new show at the Back Alley, a new cassette in the works, a video in the planning stages and possible interest from cable television, it’s no wonder Young rarely stops smiling.

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