Fun Freetime: Dear Dumb Diary

SMASH is gone from prime time, GLEE is taking its summer hiatus, and the new TV version of THE SOUND OF MUSIC with Carrie Underwood as Maria doesn’t premiere until the holiday season, so what are parents and kids who adore Broadway-quality musicals to do?  Look no further than DEAR DUMB DIARY, the original television adaptation of Jim Benton’s New York Times bestselling book series, premiering Friday, September 6^th at 8pm EST/PT (7pm Central) on Hallmark Channel.

Directed by Kristin Hanggi, director of the multiple Tony Award-nominated hit Broadway musical Rock of Ages, co-written by Benton and Hanggi and executive produced by Janet Zucker (Friends with Benefits, First Knight) and Jerry Zucker (Airplane!, Naked Gun, Ghost), DEAR DUMB DIARY is “must see TV” for kids of all ages who love marvelous musical production numbers with fabulous choreography and songs, kaleidoscopically colorful sets, a script replete with guffaws, and a truly astonishing cast of girls and boys and off-centered adults.

Follow Jamie Kelly (Emily Alyn Lind; Secret Life of Bees, J Edgar) as she navigates Mackerel Middle School with the help of her best friend Isabella, her nemesis Angeline, and the boy of her dreams, Hudson Rivers.  They encounter all the awkward, humorous and, in this case, musical moments the middle school experience (ordeal?) provides.