The Marysville Academy for the Arts will mount a fullscale production this fall ofCarnival, taken from the gorgeous Broadway musical that in turn was based on the 1953 MGM movie Lili.

The film Lili inroduced the much-loved French ingenue Leslie Caron, and also starred Mel Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor (in her heyday) and manda Blake, who would later become a TV legend as "Miss Kitty Russell," owner of the Long Branch Saloon in Gunsmoke.

Partial script credits for Lili went to writer Paul Gallico, who also wrote the childrens' lassic, Snowgoose, and the movie spectacular, Posiedon Adventure.

The story of Carnival is Lili's tale, and Lili's tale is another charming fable of the showfolk life. In it, an orphaned girl happens upon a troupe of performers from a travelling circus. A lame puppeteer unwittingly hires her, and she sings out her loneliness to the puppets and her performance becomes the traveling carnival's star attraction.

The most memorable song from the movie -- sung by every teenaged girl in New England for months and months -- was a paintive waltz written by Kaper and Deutsch, "Hi, Lily, hi-lo."

Here is a still taken from the movie scene where Lili sings to puppets:

Also, here are the lyrics.

(This is also an inside joke for some of the MCAA students who took part in the recent production of Grease. Notice that the lyrics from from the version done by Shelley Fabares, whose incorrectly pronounced last name figured in a minor way in a Grease bit.)

Carnival showcases the talents of MCAA’s young actors, musicians and dancers. First reports of the casting indicate that the ingenue-ous Dahni Trujillo and a yet-to-be-named classmate at MCAA will share the lead Lili role.

MCAA instructors Wendie Marks, Zenobia Brown and Jacque Dake will be director, musical director and choreographer, respectively.

Shows are scheduled for Oct. 16, 17, 18, 19, 30, 31 and Nov. 1 and 2. For tickets or more information call (530) 749-6157.

Don’t miss it.