Buckle up for the rootin’-est, tootin’-est country Christmas in town! This 5–9s nativity retells the traditional story with the addition of cowboy/cowgirl angels, a Wild West noble steed (and by that we mean our donkey!), and a toes-a-tapping, diddly-do-ing, all-out country soundtrack! So, get on the road to hustlin’-bustlin’ Bethlehem with our simple, giggle-worthy script, seven country-vibing songs and a whole lot of Christmas joy. It’s safe to say we had LOADS of fun working on this one!
An Annual Performance Licence is required to perform this title. For more information, please click here.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT
It’s a country Christmas celebration!
About A Rootin’ Tootin’ Nativity!
This year we’re putting the ‘yeehaw’ into your primary school nativity, so pop on your tinsel-lined cowboy hats and get to know this lively story! From the writers that brought you the best-selling nativities of The Twinkly Nativity, The Big Little Nativity and A Fireside Nativity comes this bright and bold 5-9s nativity!
THE SONGS
From the slower barn dance of Got No Room to a fiddle-roarin’, banjo-strummin’ heavenly hoedown finale, these seven songs explore a whole range of country styles that are easy to learn and fabulously fun to sing!
THE STORY
This nativity opens with our cowboy/cowgirl angels, who guide us through the traditional story with a fresh country feel and sound. You can expect all of the classic characters, a noble-steed sorta donkey and a good dose of Christmas celebration!
THE EXTRAS
This nativity comes with a few exciting extras to help make rehearsals, performances and everything in between super fun, super doable, and just a little country-fied! We’ve got our Rootin’ Tootin’ Movin’ page, packed with ideas for bringing the show to life, plus drama games and activities, and a doodlin’ colouring page for all things country creativity and cowboy fun!
An editable script is available for this product when you purchase a package that includes an eSongbook.
Check out how many lines each character has to help you with your casting.
Note: The number of lines is determined by how many times each character's name appears in the script.
View cast list, staging and costume ideas
There are 31 speaking parts plus a few essential non-speaking parts – angel on a horse, angel choir, inn workers and guests.
INCREASING THE CAST SIZE
The speaking parts can easily be increased up to 43 if you double the number of cowboy/ cowgirl angels, shepherds and sheep and split the lines accordingly. Have as many additional non-speaking sheep, shepherds, angels (choir), inn workers and guests as you like.
DECREASING THE CAST SIZE
The cast list can be reduced to 21 by doing the following:
- Have 3 cowboy/cowgirl angels instead of 5, sharing the lines accordingly.
- Reduce sheep and shepherds to two of each, with lines divided between them.
- The two saloon doors in Scene 1 can double as the angel on a horse and the stable hand in Scene 5.
- The three horses in Scene 3 can double as the three camels in Scene 5.
- For Song 4 (Shepherds Together), innkeeper Carl and family can join to form the three shepherd groups. They will need to change back into innkeeper family costumes during the first half of Scene 5, ready for their next appearances.
Licence Information
Annual Performance Licence Information - What You Need To Know
- A current Annual Performance Licence is required to perform a musical or nativity to an audience (other than to pupils & staff), including an online audience, and irrespective of whether admission charges are made.
- It is more cost effective to purchase an Annual Performance Licence as part of a complete product pack.
- An Annual Performance Licence covers any number of performances of a particular musical or nativity within 12 months of the date of ordering. A separate Annual Performance Licence is required for each product title.
- To renew your Annual Peformance Licence, log into your account if you have one and go to your My Licences section.
Find out more about what your Annual Performance Licence will legally cover you to do.
All of our eSongbooks come with a Single User Licence
- This means you can install our Words on Screen™ software onto ONE computer only, or it can be streamed by a single user.
- If you would like to install this software onto your network server and/or two or more computers, or allow multiple users to stream Words on Screen™ songs, this will be covered by your Annual Performance Licence which includes extended digital rights. For more information, click here.
The following items are available for this product:
Teacher's book
- Cast Size and Staging
- Character list
- Costumes
- Props list
- Full script
- Drama games
- Movement deas
- Song lyrics and music score for 7 songs, plus overture (Piano music score, melody and chords)
- Licence and copyright details
RTN Audio CD
- Vocal tracks sung by children
- Professional backing tracks
- Sound Effects: Angels' Entrance
Words on Screen™ eSongbook
- An online version of your product to stream or download on-the-go
- Extractable MP3s, printable lyrics, scores, scripts (including editable script*), & additional resources
- Words on Screen™ versions of songs so that you can display song lyrics on any whiteboard, computer screen, television or interactive touchscreen. The lyrics synchronize with the music as it plays making them easy to teach and easy to learn
- Stream or download your songs on the go
- Flexibility to create an expandable library of Words on Screen™ song collections, nativities and musicals in your Out of the Ark online account
- Enhanced operation features including ‘double-click’ to hear and teach a single line
- Words on Screen™ user guide
- Single-User licence (Please note a Performance Licence is still required to perform this musical)
- Licence & copyright details
*For your convenience, we have provided an editable script in Word format for this nativity or musical. The purpose of the editable script is to allow you to adjust the allocation of speaking parts for smaller or larger cast sizes and/or to make minor changes to the text for staging purposes.
Annual Performance Licence
An Annual Performance Licence covers any number of performances of a particular musical or nativity within 12 months of the date of ordering. A separate Annual Performance Licence is required for each product title.
Find out more about what your Annual Performance Licence will legally cover you to do.
A funny, memorable nativity with irresistible songs, flexible roles and all the planning support needed to give your class a performance they can feel proud of.
A lively, Western-style nativity packed with memorable songs, flexible casting and all the support teachers need to put on a brilliant show without the usual stress It is that time of year again. The days are getting shorter and chillier, the school diary is filling up, and of course primary teachers are putting together the annual nativity. Thankfully, Out of the Ark has done what it does best with A Rootin’ Tootin’ Nativity!, a lively Western-style take on the traditional Christmas story that gives you plenty of personality without losing the original heart. The songs are an immediate win. They are catchy, full of character and easy enough for children to learn, but they still move the story along properly. Buckle Up! sets the tone straight away, Get on the Road builds brilliantly through repetition, and Got No Room has exactly the kind of chorus children will belt out with confidence. Then there is Rootin’ Tootin’! itself, which is an absolute banger. I can already hear it being sung in corridors for weeks afterwards! The script is funny, sweet and packed with moments children will love performing. Cowboy and cowgirl angels, saloon doors, a donkey who thinks this is his first rodeo and sheep launching into a karate-style routine give it something quirky and memorable. However, the key nativity moments remain firmly in place, so it still feels familiar for families watching. As usual, Out of the Ark has done the hard work for teachers. The package includes vocal and backing MP3s, scores, a full script, character guidance, costume ideas, staging suggestions, and a prop list with tick boxes. The costumes are imaginative without becoming a craft-project nightmare, and most could be sourced from school cupboards, home or simple parent contributions. The staging is similarly manageable, with one basic backdrop adaptable across the saloon, inn, fields and stable. An editable script also makes it simple to allocate names and adjust speaking parts to suit the cast. Casting is especially flexible. There are 31 speaking parts, with guidance for increasing this to 43 or reducing it to 21, plus plenty of non-speaking roles. That means there is room for confident performers, children who prefer a smaller part, and those who would rather join in through singing and movement. The extras really make this package sing. Buckle Up for Drama Games gives you ready-made rehearsal and classroom activities, while the movement ideas and choreography videos for Got No Room, One Star and Rootin’ Tootin! take the pressure off anyone who does not naturally think in eight-counts. A Rootin’ Tootin’ Nativity! is fun, polished and packed with support. It lets teachers create something special for their cohort without spending every evening reinventing the wheel.
A perfect fit for Years 2 and 3!
Amid the anticipated third heatwave in the UK this calendar year, I find myself reviewing a primary school nativity. As incongruous as it seems, I particularly like the mind-space the summer brings and the opportunity to think creatively for the terms ahead. And so, in timely fashion, here is a review of a musical nativity by Mark, Helen and Naomi Johnson, hot off the press from Out of the Ark. I am not sure where you first turn as a music educator when choosing a Christmas nativity for your school; but, personally, I need to like the songs before I even open the script. I also tend to know quite quickly whether I like them or not! Christmas is a metaphorical musical sweet shop for music teachers, as there is so much to choose from. At the same time, the annual nativity is one of those productions that seems to occupy every available corridor, classroom and staffroom conversation for weeks, so choosing wisely pays dividends. This one has a country music theme that makes it distinctive, without feeling too gimmicky. The first line of the first song made me laugh aloud: ‘Here we go again, we do this every year…’ Yes, spot on! ‘Buckle Up’ is a classic intro song, relaxed and narrative with a lower octave bass call-out guaranteed to make the students giggle. A more upbeat ‘Get on the Road’ (very reminiscent of ‘The Chocolate Song’ by the same publishers) is similar to the ‘pack your bag’ drama or circle-time game, adding an item each verse. My personal earworm, by a long shot, is ‘Got No Room’, which is in a minor key and has a funky, stompy rhythm. ‘Shepherds Together’, in 6/8 time, is more folky and lyrical and, for me, is one of the standout moments in the score. ‘One Star’ sees a return to a more familiar Johnson-style of song, but it’s interrupted by some brilliant tongue-twisters (set aside a lesson for these alone). We return to a song in a minor key for ‘What a Story!’, before concluding with the final song, ‘Rootin’ Tootin’!’, a rousing chorus with choreography for audience participation. The script is succinct and entertaining, inviting your more confident characters to draw the audience in from the start. Angels enter to classic Western saloon-style music and there are Yee-haws! peppered throughout. As well as the sheep being well-versed in karate moves, inspiration for choreography is provided by Out of the Ark via short video clips; without giving you every single move, these are sufficient to get you started. Aimed at 5–9 year olds, this nativity is a perfect fit for Years 2 and 3; but I am also considering it as a challenge for Year 1. With seven songs in total, the music needs to be started early in order to learn all the lyrics, but the script is more digestible and straightforward. A Rootin’ Tootin’ Nativity is written for 31 speaking parts and a handful of essential non-speaking parts. This can be upped to 43 speaking parts or decreased to 21, depending on the size of your cast. An editable script in the pack makes the task of adapting speaking parts or adding in student names incredibly straightforward. Details of costumes are clearly laid out for parents to work from, or recycle from earlier productions, with the addition of a large order of cowboy hats. The props and staging are straightforward and simple, as required for a play for this age-group. I am already thinking that our DT teacher can, with students, create lots of fences, saloon doors and signs using cardboard construction tools. As ever, Out of the Ark have also included four drama games to be used in conjunction with rehearsals. So, even though the mercury continues to rise in my office this July, I suspect I will soon be ordering my hat and boots and corralling colleagues into a line dance or two. If a successful nativity is one that children enjoy performing, staff enjoy rehearsing and audiences leave humming the songs, then A Rootin’ Tootin’ Nativity looks set to tick all the right boxes come December.
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