Fairy tale meets disco in 'Three Billy Goats Gruff'

Three billy goats caught a case of Saturday night fever at Lehman College’s Lovinger Theatre on Sunday.

In the Children’s Theatre Company at Lehman’s production of “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” goat siblings Barry, Robin and Maurice channeled the Bee Gees’ Gibb brothers in a production that melded 1970s disco with the well-known fairy tale the show takes its name from.

“Think ‘Shrek’ — kids like it, but there’s enough in it for adults to find it funny,” said Lehman Stages’ artistic director Dante Albertie, who wrote the show, at a dress rehearsal on Feb. 13.

Mr. Albertie, 48, is the creative mind behind about 20 different Children’s Theatre shows, all of which he describes as “fairy tale sketch comedy.”

He adds humorous twists to age-old tales, new words for old melodies and sometimes altered lyrics for well-known tunes. In “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” the Bee Gees’ “Night Fever” and “Stayin’ Alive” get reworked — to hilarious effect.

“You can tell when I use four legs to walk, I’m a Billy goat: no time to talk,” they sang to the tune of the 1977 smash hit “Stayin’ Alive.” 

In Mr. Albertie’s version of the 19th-century Norwegian tale, the three brothers have sung together since they were baby goats receiving training from their father. 

Following in the footsteps of the real Gibb brothers, the capricious trio temporarily disbands. After two of the goats set out to pursue solo careers, they are reunited once an encounter with a bridge troll makes them realize they are better as a group. 

Parents know the songs and the story of the Bee Gees, Mr. Albertie said. Kids, on the other hand, are satisfied by the show even without cultural knowledge of bygone decades. 

“The kids know it’s these goats that are hoping to be a singing group, and that’s all they need to know and they’re cool with that,” said Mr. Albertie.