Kids of Rock Theatre Brings Show to Mall

Mall crawlers may wonder if they’ve passed into another dimension tonight if they wander into the food area of the Fallbrook Mall in Canoga Park. Along with the usual shish kebab and baked potato stands, they’ll find about two dozen dancing, singing teen-agers.

What’s more, while many numbers in the musical revue will be straight off this week’s MTV rotation, others will date from before television was born.

The group, Kids of Rock Theatre, is made up of students in a singing and dance workshop of the same name. They play the mall at 6:30 p.m. the first Friday of each month, performing popular songs from the last 60 years.

Some are dance numbers only, such as Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Others, such as a medley from “West Side Story,” find the group both singing and dancing. Music is provided by tape recordings played through a sound system. Admission is free.

“One thing that’s real different about the group is they’re singing five-part harmony while dancing very complex moves,” said Greg Wolford, director of Kids of Rock Theatre. “A lot of the singing is a cappella.”

Wolford is a choreographer whose recent credits include seven songs in “Wedding Band,” a Jim Belushi movie set for March release, and two numbers in the just-wrapped “Masters of Menace,” starring Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Wolford has been teaching the workshop, which takes students ages 14 to 19, for a decade.

It’s no surprise the teen-agers enjoy performing current or recent hits. Friday’s show will include a song-and-dance version of the Janet Jackson tune “Rhythm Nation.” Songs by Michael Jackson and Herbie Hancock also will be performed.

But Wolford, who lives in La Crescenta, said his students also take to the older songs.

“The kids like them because of the way we detail it and keep it in period,” he said. “We keep it fast, too, and they like that.”

The show lasts about 45 minutes.

“One nice thing is that you can bring the kids,” said a mall spokeswoman.

Kids of Rock Theatre practices about 10 hours a week and performs at various benefits. Tuesday the group played in a fund-raiser at the Bonaventure Hotel for an inner-city youth program. The event saluted the 100th anniversary of the Dodgers baseball organization, and a number of players attended. Wolford said several hundred people were in the audience. Kids of Rock Theatre was the headline group.

“We did an a cappella version of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ that had about 15 different singers, and they loved it,” said group member Matthew Stone, 16, of Sun Valley. “The people in the audience were crying.”

Kids of Rock Theatre; 6:30 tonight; Food Court, Fallbrook Mall, 6507 Fallbrook Ave., Canoga Park; admission free; for information telephone ( 818 ) 340-5871.