The Littlest Witch...
is the third installment in a trilogy of stories created by brother/sister team, Tony Jerris and Corinne Aquilina. The first in the series, The Littlest Spruce, began as a poem written by Tony for Corinne’s then year-old-son. Thanks to two silly field mice and a boy called Roy, it is the story of a little spruce tree who discovers the true meaning of Christmas when he’s reunited with his ‘decorated parents’ in Roy’s home. That poem was the beginning of Little Spruce Productions, creating self-published stories written in metered poetry with accompanying audiotapes.
Within a year of its release, The Littlest Spruce was named ‘BEST NEW
CHILDREN’S BOOK’ by The North American Book Exchange Association, received positive reviews by “Good Morning America” director Bob McKinnon, and sold over 20,000 copies.
The second story, The Littlest Piggy, about a little piggy who wants ‘off the farm’ to pursue his dream to become a recording star, proved successful when it was distributed by Waldenbooks. By the time Tony had finished writing the third story, The Littlest Witch, he had left Manhattan for Hollywood, but unlike the littlest piggy, he was pursuing his dream of becoming a screenwriter.
In 1999, Tony and Corinne began working on a musical theatre adaptation of The Littlest Witch. The original version played to sold-out houses in a local school before moving on to theatres on both the East and West Coasts while going through workshops and changes.
The Littlest Witch is now complete with a polished script, score and orchestration for five: Conductor/keyboard, Bass, Percussion, Guitar and Violin. In September of 2009, The Littlest Witch demo was recorded at SubCat Music Studios in Skaneateles, New York by SUNY Cortland’s Music Theatre Department. This is truly a show that entertains on both levels: for youngsters and adults.
