Okapi & Beezoo

Okapi & Beezoo is a children's musical that tells the story of Okapi, who is finding his first day of school to be difficult. None of the other animals on the school bus want to sit with him, because he looks so different - he clearly isn't a zebra, horse, or giraffe. He doesn't want to ride the bus home, but if he walks home, he could be lion lunch. What to do? Fortunately, his best friend, Beezoo, is along with him, and together, they learn how to outsmart the lions, and make friends with all of the other animals.

Okapi & Beezoo was adapted for the stage by Ernest Ebell, from the book by Lisa Appleton, with illustrations by John Brasaemle. The work was premiered in 2013 at Charles Semper Elementary School in Westminster, Colorado, under the direction of Ms. Julie Haas. It was performed by the school's fourth-graders, and is appropriate for performance by grades 3-5, and for audiences of all ages. The show has a running time of approximately 30 minutes, and features six songs. The flexible cast features 13 African animals, one human Griot (storyteller), and a chorus of as many other African animals as needed.

To obtain the rights to perform this work, please contact Mr. Ebell through the Contact page of this website. Comes with teacher-friendly script, piano-vocal sheet music, optional score and parts for flute, piano, bass, and two djembes for live performances, and a recording with the orchestrations, both with and without a guide vocal. Teachers will also appreciate the helpful study guide, which is designed to complement the studies of children in and outside of the music classroom. All of the songs are built upon authentic rhythms from different regions of Africa, and are identified as such.

Songs

Okapi & Beezoo: the Musical

Ernest Ebell

Music & Lyrics by Ernest Ebell

1

My Rafiki and Me 1:57

0:00/1:57
2

No Room! 3:06

0:00/3:06

My Rafiki and Me

Music & Lyric by Ernest Ebell

Okapi likes to talk till the cows come home,
Beezoo shares the buzz from the honeycomb.
Talk and talk and talk till the moonlight shows,
What they talk about, no-one knows!

Through the jungle they find their way.
   Together they work, together they play.
   When times get rough it's clear to see,
   You're my BFF! His rafiki and he!

Okapi licks the leaves off the forest trees.
Beezoo pollinates every flower she sees.
Ask them what they want, and I have a hunch,
both of them will say, "Let's do lunch!"

Through the jungle they find their way.
   Together they work, together they play.
   When times get rough it's clear to see,
   You're my BFF! Her rafiki and she!

Okapi's having fun in her company.
Beezoo is as sweet as a bee can be.
Beezoo and Okapi, the best of friends,
Standing side by side, till the end!

Through the jungle they find their way.
   Together they work, together they play.
   When times get rough it's clear to see,
That they're BFFs! His rafiki and he!

Her rafiki and she!
Our rafiki and we!
My rafiki and me!

No Room!

Music & Lyric by Ernest Ebell

Does anyone know what we have here?
It's not like me, it's not like you.
Don't think I want it sittin' near.
You never can tell what it might do.

No room! No room! Looks so different from me and you.
   No room! No room! Belongs behind bars in a public zoo.
   No room! No room! Don't want his kind sittin' with us.
   No room! No room! We'd rather they weren't even on our bus.

A zebra it's not, it's marked all wrong.
His stripes don't reach from head to hooves.
Not one of us, he can't belong.
Whatever he is, we disapprove.

Whatever it is, it's not a horse.
His mane's too short, his coat too loud.
Not one of us, that's clear, of course.
Don't think he'll be hangin' with our crowd.

It's not an elephant, hippo, or rhino.
Better keep away, it might have fleas.
What is this animal? Heck if I know!
And even worse, it's friends with bees!

It's not a giraffe, it has no neck.
He's not like us, he's way too short.
We could make room, but what the heck?
Who wants to be sittin' with his sort?

We'd rather they weren't even on our bus.