Set at the beginning of time, the musical introduces the Eldest Magician who has created a world of beasts and birds and fish. Everything was just so, until Pau Amma the Crab began playing with the ocean, causing a flood that threatened the other animals.

To stop the crab, the Elephant’s Child goes on a quest to the Limpopo River, and discovers many lessons including how the leopard got his spots, how the rhinoceros got his skin and how curiosity and a hungry crocodile can turn an elephant’s small nose into a very large trunk.

Set to a eclectic, upbeat score, Kipling’s “Just So Stories” are woven with wit and imagination into a song-filled journey through the jungle. And you will be inspired by its underlying message -

That one determined individual
can make a real difference in this world.

Just So draws on the creative imagination of Rudyard Kipling, who used to make up stories to tell to his young daughter on their long sea voyages from Southampton, England, to South Africa.

These stories often involved some of the animals that they were familiar with from their time spent in both Africa and India.

As is so common with young children, repetition is a favourite part of the story-telling process - and Kipling's daughter was no exception.

The trouble was that sometimes Kipling would forget a certain detail in the retelling of a story, but his little girl was quick to point out the error and say

"No, tell it just so, it has to be just so" -

Hence the collection of 12 short stories were published as The Just So Stories.