Easing Some Childhood Angst on ‘Lunchroom Tales’ Menu

Bill Harley remembers what it’s like to be 7 years old, living in a world controlled by unpredictable, sometimes terrifying giants, further complicated by siblings, bullies and friends. The multi-award-winning children’s recording artist, writer and National Public Radio commentator has been giving voice to those memories for more than two decades in his funny and poignant songs and stories.

Harley, the class clown who grew up to be, well, a class clown, uses every happy, sad, embarrassing, uplifting and regrettable experience of his childhood to spark his tall tales and truths. (Teachers and parents, beware: Kids have long memories and some of them grow up to be writers.)

In 1996, he expanded his creative vision to include theater with his comical musical, “Lunchroom Tales: A Natural History of the Cafetorium,” which debuted at Trinity Repertory in Rhode Island. Harley and his troupe of actor-musicians will perform the touring show Saturday at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall.

In the show, Harley and his band, the Troublemakers, return to do a gig at his old elementary school. When they find the custodian’s keys, though, they begin opening doors to Harley’s past, from the all-seeing, short and wide bus driver with “a forearm like a ham hock” to Mrs. Nottingham, the scary teacher who felt it was her duty to teach her students that “it’s a cold, cruel world.”

Harley also searches for the bottle cap collection confiscated from him as a kid, and he tries to discourage the comic custodian (played by theatrical clown Michael Zerphy) who wants to play accordion with the band.

A commentator on NPR’s “All Things Considered” since 1991, Harley is often acclaimed for his uncanny ability to get inside kids’ skins and express not only their feelings but also their anarchic zest--the latter is evidenced by some of his album titles: “50 Ways to Fool Your Mother,” “Grownups Are Strange,” “Dinosaurs Never Say Please.”

In “Lunchroom,” Harley observes, “a kid’s job is to explore the gray area between yes and no.” And it’s what’s real in the mix that resonates with both children and adults, even as they’re laughing.

“There’s all kinds of terror in elementary school,” Harley noted. “I think we do kids a disservice if we don’t acknowledge that; adults don’t realize that even their sheer size is amazing to a kid.”

Harley, 44, a dad--he has a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old--and a Quaker who has worked with parents, children and teachers in conflict resolution, guides kids beyond fear, too: The Mrs. Nottingham segment spins into a demystifying recognition for kids that even a rigid, intimidating teacher can have feelings that echo their own.

Yet he doesn’t let young people off the hook, either. He also sings and tells about rising to or failing a test of character.

Indeed, the real heart of “Lunchroom Tales,” after much hilarity and some quieter moments, comes toward the end. It’s about a boy in Harley’s class, not a popular kid, who had a terminal illness.

“I couldn’t be nice to him because of my fear of what others would think,” Harley said. “So it’s about moral ambivalence and how hard it is to do what you know is the right thing.”

The show isn’t for the “Teletubbies” gang; Harley, who has a broad adult fan base, is rare in the children’s entertainment world in targeting elementary school-age kids with long-form stories and story songs rich in language and emotion.

* “Lunchroom Tales: A Natural History of the Cafetorium,” UCLA, Schoenberg Hall, Saturday, 2 and 5 p.m. $12.50 (ages 16 and under) and $25. (310) 825-2101.