JUST SAY SI 'DORA,' 'VEGGIETALES' BRING THEIR MAGIC TO THE LIVE STAGE.

Byline: Alessandra Djurklou Staff Writer

If your kids won't stop clamoring that they're bored this summer, here's something that may just keep them entertained: a small bilingual girl setting off on an adventure with her pirate friends, or a 7-foot cucumber putting on a rock concert with an equally oversize tomato, stalk of asparagus and various gourds.

Popular animated Nickelodeon character Dora the Explorer recently premiered her second live stage show, called ``Dora the Explorer Live! Dora's Pirate Adventure,'' and the show is at the Kodak Theater through Sunday. It then moves to the Terrace Theater at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center Tuesday through Aug. 18.

The popular computer-animated ``VeggieTales'' video series also goes live, with ``VeggieTales Rockin' Tour Live!'' which comes to the Gibson Amphitheater at Universal CityWalk on Aug. 28.

DORA THE EXPLORER

Danay Ferrer, who plays the precocious Dora in ``Dora's Pirate Adventure,'' says she is exhausted. It's 9 a.m., and she is sitting in the car on the way to her Las Vegas hotel. She's been up since the wee hours, and this is just one of the first of many interviews she is doing that day for the tour.

It's the kind of schedule that would exhaust the hardiest 7-year-old, except that Ferrer just happens to have turned 31 last week. Yet Ferrer says she feels younger now than when she was 30 - and her friends agree with her.

``Last year, I was working at a bank,'' she says. ``But people tell me I look younger now. Most of my days are spent acting like a child, and I've learned to take life as a surprise.''

Getting the Dora role was a surprise. It was while working at the bank that a friend of hers told her about the Dora auditions.

``She thought I looked like Dora,'' Ferrer says.

Indeed, like the animated character, Ferrer says she was a tomboy as a child. She is also Latina. Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Ferrer speaks fluent Spanish, though she is not as apt to speak Spanglish as Dora does constantly on the show.

``I speak better English than I do Spanish,'' says Ferrer. ``(Dora) uses it almost like magic words. For example, when she opens the treasure chest, she says 'abre' (open).''

This is Ferrer's first professional acting job. But she is not a stranger to the stage. Trained as a singer and dancer, she spent some time in the '90s in a girl group called Innosense. Though Innosense made a record and opened for such teen sensations as 'N Sync and Britney Spears, the group never made it really big and split up in 2001.

Being an actress was intimidating at first, Ferrer says, considering the amount of lines there were to memorize. But, because of Innosense, she had at least learned to dance and sing at the same time - and that's a good thing, considering how many songs there are in the show. As for the acting part, the other professionals in the cast have been very helpful.

``The cast is wonderful,'' Ferrer says. ``It's very close-knit.''

One of Ferrer's duties as Dora is to have meet-and-greets with the audience. And no, the kids don't seem to mind that Dora is neither animated nor an actual 7-year-old.

``You've got to remember, the kids want to believe you,'' Ferrer says. ``It's not like adults, who want to expose you. I love it when kids run to me.''

Dora and other cast members make hospital appearances to cheer up sick children. Sometimes, Ferrer says, it's hard to handle seeing kids fighting horrible diseases. But that's when the acting comes in, she says. She has taught herself to blink back the tears and smile, and the pleasure the kids get from having a Dora story read to them is boundless.

``People say, 'Oh, what you do for the kids,' '' Ferrer says. ``But I say, 'The impact they make on my life is huge.' ''

VEGGIETALES

The cucumber, unfortunately, is unavailable for interviews. Or so the publicist for ``VeggieTales Rockin' Tour Live!'' informs a disappointed reporter earlier this week. Luckily, though, Terry Pefanis, chief operating officer of Big Ideas (the company that produces the popular kids' video series and their live shows) has some pull, and suddenly Mike Nawrocki, who does the voice of the most popular Veggie, Larry the Cucumber, phones during a break from the recording studio.

And as it turns out, Nawrocki isn't just a water-filled salad staple in the Veggie world. He is one of the creators of VeggieTales.

He and Phil Vischer (who just happens to be the voice of Bob the Tomato) met at Bible college in Minneapolis. Both had an interest in children's theater, and Nawrocki had experience as a puppeteer. They put on shows for churches and other venues, and once out of college, the two felt there was room in the children's television market for a different kind of show - one that taught kids lessons and stories from the Bible.

``We thought it would be a great thing,'' Nawrocki says. ``A lot of the stuff out there was really violent.''

At first they considered telling stories with candy bars. But Vischer's wife objected.

``Phil's wife thought it would be better values for kids to show vegetables,'' Nawrocki says.

Vegetables were also fine, because, like candy bars, they had no limbs either. And that was important, considering the duo was planning to animate their show with computers. (``VeggieTales'' premiered several years before Pixar's ``Toy Story,'' and the technology was still so limited that movable arms and legs were a huge challenge.)

But the limbless veggies became a hit with the kid set - and not just the Christian one, either.

While ``VeggieTales'' continues to take inspiration from the Bible for its work (at first Vischer considered turning it into a kid ministry), it also continues to mix in material from more secular sources. And when it came time to take the Veggies to the stage, rock 'n' roll was the avenue they chose. The live show is basically about the Veggies planning to put on a concert, Nawrocki says.

Since real vegetables are too small to be seen on stage, the Veggies are huge. Nawrocki's character, for example, is a 7-foot puppet. He does not play the character on stage but supplies the pre-recorded voice. He also does the voice of a gourd and a split pea. The band and singers, however, are all live.

Which leaves the question: Is Nawrocki still able to eat vegetables?

``I love my vegetables,'' he says. ``As long as they don't talk back to me, I'm fine.''

DORA THE EXPLORER LIVE: DORA'S PIRATE ADVENTURE

Where: Kodak Theater, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Terrace Theater, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach.

When: 7 tonight, 10:30 a.m., 2 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Kodak); 7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday (Terrace).Tickets: $19 to $60 (Kodak); $15 to $38 (Terrace).

Information: [phone]; www.ticketmaster.com.

VEGGIETALES ROCKIN' TOUR LIVE!

Where: Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk.

When: 1 and 5 p.m. Aug. 28.

Tickets: $17.50 to $30.

Information: [phone]; www.ticketmaster.com.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) ``Dora the Explorer Live''

(2) ``VeggieTales''