Judi Franco Chalme will perform her original musical “Judi and the Jollybeans” at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal, with her daughters, Roslyn and Mary.
If you go
What: “Judi and the Jollybeans,” for children ages two-11
When: Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2 p.m.; a preview at Deal Rocks on Saturday, Aug. 8, 9:30 p.m.
Where: Axelrod Performing Arts Center, Deal Park
Tickets: $18, $12 for children (Those purchasing tickets in advance will receive a free Jollybean Sundae after the show.)
Contact: www.axelrodartscenter.com, judiandthejollybeans.com, or 732-531-9100, ext. 142.
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August 4, 2009
Judi Franco Chalme wants to live life with no regrets. That’s why in November the Long Branch resident left her successful career as a radio personality — she was on The Dennis and Judi Show on New Jersey 101.5 FM for 11-and-a-half years — to take up the life of a stay-at-home mom with her four children, ages 10-19. “Nobody gives up a lucrative career like I did unless it’s something really pressing,” she told NJJN, “and I had that typical dilemma of the working mother: I just never really felt like you could have it all…. People never tell you when your kids get older they need you more, not less.”
That move away from her professional life on the airwaves allowed Chalme to fulfill a different creative endeavor, one that has been 18 years in the making.
Chalme and her two daughters, Mary, 19, and Roslyn, 13, will perform the premiere of “Judi and the Jollybeans” — an original musical written by Chalme — at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal on Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 2 p.m. A sneak preview will be held during Deal Rocks on Saturday evening, Aug. 8.
But the music for “Judi and the Jollybeans” is not brand-new. Almost two decades ago, when she was home with two small children and was, as she said, “a bored housewife,” Chalme penned the show’s songs. She recorded them and would play the CD for her children, nephews and nieces, and neighborhood kids.
Once her career in radio took off, the dream of writing something that she could perform either herself or with her children when they were older was put on hold. After leaving her radio job, it was her daughters who gave her the push to continue what she had started. Several months ago, Mary, who was spending the year in Israel, called her mother and said, “Mom, whether you like it or not, you are writing this play. You’re doing it.”
A family affair
The fact that “Jollybeans” is a family project, Chalme said, is a direct result of her leaving her “big hotshot career.” She said she wanted most of all to spend time with her kids, and “what better way to do that than by doing something creative together.” Besides performing with her two daughters, other family members are eager to get in on the act. Her older son, Raymond, 17, who plays guitar, told his mother that once she begins to incorporate live music into the play — a dream of hers that’s down the line — he would play in the band. And her youngest child, son JoJo, 10, who is “dying to be in the show,” has been recruited to help with audience participation and bringing other children onto the stage. Chalme’s husband, Mark, is in charge of marketing. “He’s running around hanging up posters all over the place, selling tickets, and it’s become our little family business.”
Chalme is particularly delighted that her work will debut at the Axelrod, which is located at the JCC of Greater Monmouth County in Deal. “I talked to a few theaters about doing it, and the J is really where I grew up — it was the Y when I was younger — and my kids all grew up at the J and did theater at the J — so I said, ‘We’ve got to premiere it here.’
‘For kids who can’t sit still’
While Judi Franco Chalme is performing “Judi and the Jollybeans” with her two daughters, she wrote the play with the special needs of her son JoJo, 10, in mind: “Because I have a son who can’t sit through a play because he has ADHD and other frustration and tolerance issues, I wanted to write something that people who have kids like that would be able to bring their own kids to.
“It’s not just bringing your kids to the theater…they actually get involved in it,” she said.
Chalme said that the fact that the Axelrod center is presenting the show will be helpful to mothers of children with attention issues, who say, “‘My kid can’t even sit still through a movie. What can I do with him for fun?’ “I know what they need because I’ve been there. I am there.”
What should audience members expect from the performance? Chalme promises it will be “a rousing, rollicking, crazy but exhilarating performance that’s not like any other theater experience you’ve ever had. It’s colorful, it’s fun; we like to call it ‘the theater experience for kids who can’t sit still.’”
Volunteer people
“We’re volunteer people, my husband and I,” said Judi Franco Chalme, a claim evidenced by her long roster of philanthropic activism and support. So when she was presented with the idea that one day she would combine “Judi and the Jollybeans” with some of her charity work, Chalme said, “That’s absolutely one of my goals.”
Some of the organizations Chalme is active with are Sephardic Bikur Holim, Torah Links of Western Monmouth, the Sephardic Cancer Research Center, and the Ladies Angel Network Angel Fund. Her family also established Elliot’s Legacy, an offshoot of the national organization Uniting Against Lung Cancer, after her brother-in-law passed away four years ago.
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