The first poster I did for A Big Day for Baseball: A Magic Tree House Adventure was rather documentary in nature. I wanted to re-create what the day looked like when Jackie Robinson walked onto the field in 1947 as the first African American athlete. Some fans were thrilled while others were not. Jackie focused on what he knew best, which was playing baseball.
At this point I didn’t know much about the book series on which the play was based. I was just batting ideas around. The title itself changed while I was working on the posters to A Big Day for Jackie Robinson: A Magic Tree House Adventure. Eventually the team name of Dodgers was removed form the art, probably for legal reasons. I don’t mind small changes like that, the big problem is finding just the right image to tell the story.
Jack and Annie are back in this musical journey, based on the book A Big Day for Baseball from the acclaimed Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne! The Magic Tree House whisks the siblings away to a baseball game in 1947 Brooklyn, New York, where they meet baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson and must figure out what’s so special about this specific game – in under nine innings!
The show continues to run through March 18, 2023 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (812 E Rollins St
Orlando, FL 32803).