Monday, Aug. 1, 2005 | 8:11 a.m.
Dora is a 7-year-old bilingual animated girl designed to promote teamwork and problem solving among children.
Her show, "Dora the Explorer," which airs weekday mornings on Nickelodeon (Cox cable channel 23), is one of the network's top draws, a bestseller on DVD and has spawned a franchise worth more than $1 billion.
With a cast of colorful characters including Boots the Monkey, who's Dora's best friend; a talking map and backpack and Swiper, the sneaky fox who steals items Dora needs to complete her journey plenty of singing and interactivity, the show also has all the hallmarks of a parent's worst nightmare: "Barney."
Think again, said Gip Hoppe, the director of the live Dora production, "Dora the Explorer Live Dora's Pirate Adventure."
"Dora's more advanced than 'Barney,'" Hoppe said during a phone interview from New York. "There's just more depth to it."
Unlike Dora, Barney doesn't speak English and Spanish. The purple dinosaur is also more childish when it comes to his songs. Compare Barney's "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family" to Gloria Estafan's "Get On Your Feet," which plays at the end of "Dora's Pirate Adventure."
"It's just really hip as opposed to some other children's shows where the songs are repetitive and singalong-y," he said. "Adults are tapping their feet."
Which is why parents are more willing to sit through the live Dora production, Hoppe said.
"I think Dora is skewed toward younger kids," he said. "But in terms of the live show, adults and kids can enjoy it quite a bit."
Debuted in January, "Dora the Explorer Live Dora's Pirate Adventure" has toured through the country and plays from Friday through Sunday at Cashman Center.
Hoppe knows a few things about kids shows-turned live extravaganzas. In addition to directing and co-writing the first Dora show "The Search for the City of Lost Toys" -- he also helmed the first "Blues Clues Live!" a musical theater production of the popular children's show, and is working on a sequel.
Best known as author of "Jackie: An American Life," a satirical examination of the media invasion into the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis that enjoyed a brief run on Broadway in the mid-'90s, Hoppe said he enjoys the challenges of converting children's TV shows into musical theater.
"Good theater is good theater," he said. "And you can't dumb it down for kids, it would be a mistake. The material is different obviously, they're 7 years old. But the basic rules apply, things have to hold up, the story has to be compelling and the onstage work has to be good.
"It's no less work" than an adult production, he said.
Danay Ferrer can testify to that. As the titular character, Ferrer is learning firsthand the hard work (rigors) and preparation of a touring production.
But it's worth it, she says, when the production starts and the children's eyes widen at the sight of their TV heroine come to life.
In particular, a recent meeting with a Make-A-Wish child illuminated to Ferrer that "Dora's Pirate Adventure" is more than just musical theater.
"When I asked her what she done for her birthday, she said she went to a Dora concert," Ferrer said from a hotel room in Dallas. "I thought, 'Oh my God, this is a concert to her.' So this is not only children's first experience with musical theater, but also their first concert."
But isn't the transition of seeing the animated Dora come to life a bit jarring for young eyes?
"Not at all," Ferrer said. "They can see Dora and Dora can see them. Kids know when they watch TV, the people on TV don't actually see them.
"Remember, they're already used to participating with Dora. So when I'm onstage and I ask them, 'Do you see the treasure chest?' and they yell, 'Yes, it's behind you!' they know I can hear them."
Playing a 7-year-old girl might be a stretch for a 31-year-old former girl band singer, but Ferrer said she's been drawing comparisons to Dora long before her stage role.
"I have friends that have kids ... and they told me, 'I have friends who watch this cartoon and you remind them of her,' " she said. "It's interesting, not only do I look like her, but I remind them of her.
"My friends' kids started calling me Dora, so I was Dora before I started playing Dora."
Plus, Ferrer said she could identify with the role of a brave, tough-minded girl 7-year-old girl.
"I was that little girl," she said. "I didn't go on ship rides with animals, but that's who I was. I was the fearless young girl when I was younger."
But she says she would have enjoyed a Hispanic girl character as a role model while growing up.
Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Ferrer said while growing up there was little racial or cultural diversity in girls' toys and programs.
"All the heroines were blonde. I remember specifically Smurfette, and you had Barbies. It was really hard to connect and relate. I really wanted to grow up and be blonde and blue-eyed," she said. "Now kids have a point of reference. Latin kids say, 'Oh, I look like her. It's OK to look like me.'
"I think the United States has slowly grown more diverse and in accepting other cultures of the world. I think Dora is part of that."
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