Shows, Reviews and Uses page 1

	From THE VILLAGE BROADSIDER Sandwich, MA - August 16, 1974 "The Briar Patch"
	An original musical based on the town aquisition of the famed Briar Patch. "...special appreciation is expressed to Winnie Fitch and John Houston. They burned midnight oil for months in order to write and produce the wonderful "Briar Patch" musical. Their love of nature, children and music is evident to all who saw and heard the musical. When will we hear it again?"

From a Theatre Review in the BARNSTABLE REGISTER
Barnstable, MA - April 1978

    "Long live Nessie !" is the proclamation on the inside of the program, and those were our sentiments exactly as we left the large auditorium of the Sandwich High School Saturday evening after seeing "Nessie, the Water-Monster." This jazz musical "for children of all ages", written by John Houston and Winnie Fitch, is sheer delight and positively beautiful to look at.
    It is such a professional, polished, visually beautiful production that one dislikes thinking of its being packed away in boxes and would rather think of it as having a long run.
    This benefit for the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society will be presented at the Fanueil Hall Marketplace next Sunday. It's enough to make one grab snorkel and mask and head for Boston. "Long live Nessie", indeed, and a loud cheer for the husband and wife team of Houston and Fitch who created her.

From THE BOSTON HERALD AMERICAN Boston, MA - April 28, 1978
"Loch Ness monster surfaces in Boston"
After lying low for centuries, the fabled Loch Ness monster will be coming ashore on Sunday for her Boston debut in "Nessie the Water Monster," a new jazz musical for children. Created by Winnie Fitch, an illustrator of children's books and her husband, John Houston, a jazz musician and composer, "Nessie the Water Monster" concerns a dreamy boy who befriends an aquatic monster and visits her musical kingdom beneath the sea.	The production features the Boston Jazz Quartet and the Sandwich Young People's Theatre. Performances are at 1:00 and 3:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Quincy Market at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. The proceeds from the performance will benefit the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. "Nessie" is the opening event of the second annual Arts of the Handicapped Week.

From a review by Alice Owen Williams
Audio Cassette 1985

    It is tempting to compare THE BRIAR PATCH FABLE by John Houston and Winnie Fitch with THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, or any of its other great precursors, for it contains the philosophic insights, the humor and the whimsy that earmark those tales. But BRIAR PATCH is not served by comparison: the magic created by its joyous music, song, and drama is distinctively its own.
    Written, performed and produced by the husband and wife team whose Cape Cod home neighbors a genuine 52-acre briar patch, the story brings together the worlds of animals and humans, of adults and children, of "Progress' and conservation.
    "It's a beautiful world! It's a wonderful life!" the animals proclaim in the play's finale, moving the listener to echo, "It’s a beautiful story, It's a wonderful production!"
    Because its authors recognize the adult in every child and the child in every adult, THE BRIAR PATCH FABLE succeeds in acquainting children with the interdependence of man and nature and in leading adults to reaffirm their own sense of responsibility to this small planet, Earth.

From a review in THE TIMES RECORD Brunswick, ME - August 17, 1987
From a small recording studio named 'Hedgerow' in East Sandwich, Mass., comes the works of John Houston and Winnie Fitch, a husband-wife team. They have created a musical fantasy trilogy with an environmental theme. The first two tales, "The Briar Patch Fable" and "Allagash," are currently available, while the third tale, "The Pumpkin Tree," is scheduled to be released in 1988. Houston, born and raised in Maine, is a talented musician and composer. His wife, Winnie Fitch, is an artist, writer and illustrator. After years of working separately, they have combined their talents to produce	one of the best children's productions on the market today. Besides providing more than an hour's worth of entertainment, "The Briar Patch Fable" offers children and adults a lesson in environmental awareness and conservation. Houston and Fitch have done an excellent job in combining narration with song and dance. Their voices for each character are impressive; one can't help but love Nellie and Rufus Rabbit. The next tale in the trilogy is a double cassette which lasts almost two hours.	"Allagash" is the story of how Rufus and Nellie travel to northern Maine to help save a wilderness waterway, (hence, the name Allagash) from destruction by a proposed dam-project. Equal in performance and production to the first Houston-Fitch musical fantasy, "Allagash" promises to be exciting for children. Youngsters hear how Nellie and Rufus travel by hot air balloon, canoe and tent on top of the head of a friendly French Canadian moose, to get to the Allagash where they work with animals and humans to protect the waterway.

From THE SANDWICH HAPPENINGS
Sandwich, MA - August 25, 1989
Library To Hold Reception

    The Sandwich Public Library will hold a reception from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug.26, for Winnie Fitch and John Houston to celebrate the release of their new musical fantasy on audio-cassette, "The Pumpkin Tree."
    Pumpkin refreshments will be served; samples of original art work will be on display; live music will be played, and the authors will answer questions about their work. Ms. Fitch and Mr. Houston created the murals in the children's room of the library and have written and illustrated several books for children.
    "The Pumpkin Tree" completes a trilogy that explores the adventures of Nellie and Rufus Rabbit.

From THE CAPE COD TIMES MAGAZINE Cape Cod, MA - May 1992 Concern for Mother Earth inspires lighthearted revue with a message
	A benefit for the Association for the Preservation of Cape Cod will put a global spin on Mother's Day. The musical revue Mother's Day with Mother Earth, a tribute to the planet that nurtures us all, was written by the husband-and-wife team of John Houston and Winnie Fitch. It will be performed at 2:30 p.m. May 10 at the theater at Cape Cod Community College, Route 132. Tickets are $5 in advance at all Puritan Clothing stores, or $7 at the door. The show is the latest in a series of artistic endeavors by the East Sandwich couple about the environment. Houston, a jazz composer and writer, and Ms. Fitch, an illustrator, started working as a team in 1972, creating "A Room Full of Animals," the first of their four children’s books published by Addison-Wesley. Two years later, Houston and Ms. Fitch wrote "The Briar Patch," a children's musical inspired by the local campaign to turn an area immortalized by author Thornton W. Burgess into town conservation land. It was performed as part of the celebration that followed the successful efforts. "It was a very exciting time. We saw children become involved... working with adults for a common goal, and that's also become the philosophy for this work," Houston said. The latest musical is an expansion of a show they presented last year as part of the Student Earth Fair at Sandwich High School, and will follow their rules of production and casting. "Everything we do, we instinctively let it be multilevel – professionals, amateurs, children and adults all jumping in together."

Note:

As of April 2007, all Hedgerow Studios stories & songs are available as CDs or DVD ROM at amazon.com. Also as digital downloads and/or CD rental from audible.com, simplyaudiobooks.com, audiobookstanddl.com and overdrive.com for libraries. For other purchasing information on Hedgerow stories & songs visit www.thorntonburgess.org. To see Winnie Fitch poster art visit imagekind.com.


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