For Taes Leavitt, having more than eight million pre-schoolers follow her every move is just another day at the office.
The children’s entertainer, better known as Boots from the popular Treehouse TV show Splash’N Boots, is about to fly into Vernon, hopefully on a balloon, when she and Splash (Nick Adams) bring their Big Yellow Boot Tour to the Performing Arts Centre Sept. 18.
This isn’t the first time Splash’N Boots have performed for families in Vernon. The yellow and blue-clad duo sang at the PAC in 2012, when their music videos appeared on Treehouse.
This time, they are bringing along all the popular characters from their Treehouse TV show The Big Yellow Boot, which, in one year since airing, has recorded more than 100 episodes and has been shown in 8.3 million homes across the country.
“The whole bus is coming on the road with us,” said Leavitt. “There will be Charlie the Dog, Jumping Jack Granny and Keys… It will be a yellow and blue rock concert with all the songs from the show. Every song will be interactive. It will be a full family experience and is all about the kids.”
After years of singing, dancing and entertaining kids via their Juno winning children’s recordings and through television sets, Splash’N Boots say they love that live interaction with their young fans.
“The meet-and-greets are my favourite,” said Leavitt. “We like to spend four-to five minutes with each child. Sometimes they plan what they are going to say. One boy asked us, ‘Did you leave the TV to get here? Are you going to fly back to the TV?’”
That interaction is important to the pair. Those who have watched the TV show know that Splash‘N Boots use a “bootal,” where they talk to kids in their homes through the magic of TV.
“We’re friends before we even meet. It makes it feel more real,” said Leavitt.
“We spend a lot of time recording, so there’s a long time where we don’t do a (live) show and you feel antsy without that interaction. Touring is like the family being together.”
Singing and dancing comes naturally to Leavitt, who grew up in the Ottawa Valley town of Perth, Ont. As a youth, she studied music and drama and performed in musical theatre productions.
“I realized I hated it. The auditioning and competition stuff didn’t feel right,” she said. “I wanted to do something with kids but I didn’t want to become a teacher, so I went to study children’s musical theatre.”
It was at Kingston’s Queens University where Leavitt met Adams. For a class project, the pair developed a musical act and started doing street performances.
“Even back then we wanted to do a TV show. We thought, we’re going to do it even if we’re performing for four people with no money,” said Leavitt.
The two ended up investing their own money and even built a set in Adams’ garage that would become the Big Yellow Boot.
They filmed eight episodes, which they then brought to Treehouse.
“They were going to ask us to host Treehouse but we kept bugging them so they said ‘why don’t we merge these two ideas together?’”
Now with a professional studio for their use, Leavitt and Adams have been able to develop the Big Yellow Boot into a full-blown clubhouse, complete with characters and special effects.
“As the kids know, we fly in and out of the boot in balloons. However, we had to shoot those scenes on a red screen because we were wearing blue and yellow, which didn’t work on a green screen,” said Leavitt.
Treehouse has also given the pair artistic control, from concept to writing to execution, said Leavitt, adding the live tour is very much in the same vein.
“We have a good team behind us with friends and people we trust. We have lots of meetings. It’s definitely a group effort. Also the people working with us love what they do,” said Leavitt.
Tickets for the Big Yellow Boot Tour in Vernon, Sunday, Sept. 18 at 1 p.m., are $26.25 (all seats) and $42.25 VIP (includes a meet and greet after the show, and a special gift), available at the Ticket Seller box office, 250-549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.
