Advertisement

Simon and Garfunkel. Lennon and McCartney. Scelsa...

Share

Simon and Garfunkel. Lennon and McCartney. Scelsa and Millang.

Come again?

Get with it, parents. Greg Scelsa and Steve Millang are the Bon Jovis of the under-10 set, and little tykes have already scooped up all the tickets for one of two shows Greg & Steve will perform Thursday at El Camino College.

The singing duo has played its repertoire of catchy, upbeat educational music to sold-out houses everywhere, from school auditoriums in Los Angeles to New York’s Carnegie Hall. The pair’s performances this week are being billed as the “South Bay area kid’s event of the year.”

The one-hour program of folk music, mild rock ‘n’ roll, blues and calypso is aimed at children 2 to 9 years old. The participatory show encourages kids to clap, sing and dance along, while using their imaginations to take part.

Advertisement

“It’s a very active show,” said Susan Stewart, a Greg & Steve spokeswoman. “They’ll take whole rows of kids up on stage to do one number they call “shadow dancing” where the kids have to mimic what they do . . . They get the parents up dancing around, too.”

For Greg & Steve, music is a teaching tool and their songs provide topical and timely lessons on subjects such as money (“Piggy Bank”), the environment (“We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands”) and race relations (“The World Is a Rainbow”).

“They try to get the kids to realize that people are all different colors and we all have to get along,” Stewart said.

A fixture in children’s music since the mid-1970s, the musicians and songwriters released their first album, “We All Live Together,” in 1975. Two of their recordings, “Kids in Motion” and “Greg & Steve’s Holiday Special Times,” have received the Parents’ Choice Award.

The two Orange County natives have released 12 children’s albums and one music video, with a second one due in early summer. Their music, which has been translated into seven languages, has sold more than 1 million copies in the United States and Canada.

Greg & Steve will be available to sign autographs and chat with audience members after the show, Stewart said.

Advertisement

Shows are at 10 a.m. and noon; admission is $4.50. Tickets are available for the noon show only by calling (310) 541-5819. El Camino College, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., near Torrance.

Advertisement