Photograph by Joe Mazza / Brave Lux
What you are seeing in Cabinet of Wonder is a big labor of love, eight years in the making that has involved hundreds of people in two different cities. Cabinet of Wonder began in 2017 when singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant decided to volunteer as a visiting artist with a Head Start pre-school program in upstate New York. For three years, she taught over 400 children and developed an arts program based on traditional nursery rhymes and original songs she had written. As a year-end celebration, the children performed a play for their families called Happy Birthday Mother Goose! It was a beautiful community event with volunteer musicians, professionally built set pieces, and 150 elaborate costumes, designed and constructed by Natalie with a local sewing circle. It was her dream to find a way to share the joy of the program with teachers, children, and parents far and wide. But the global pandemic brought the project to a sudden end in March of 2020. All the costumes, sets, and props went into storage; the songs and all her writings were set aside.
In early 2023, Natalie began meeting with her friend Jacqueline Russell, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Chicago Children’s Theatre, and Jonathan McCormick, Managing Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Negaunee Music Institute to hatch a plan to bring the project to Chicago. Their goal was to create an innovative enrichment tool for early childhood educators and parents that would be as beautiful as it was useful. Cabinet of Wonder would be a large-scale public arts program, broadcast and distributed through the internet. All its audio-visual and educational materials would be provided completely free of charge.
A fundraising campaign was launched in late 2023 to begin the project and the response from donors in Chicago and New York was both immediate and generous. The first step was to commission composer Megan Gould to arrange Natalie’s songs for chamber ensembles of orchestral instruments. By January 2024, Natalie, musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), and special guests met in Chicago to record the 17 songs with five-time Grammy-winning audio engineer Ryan Freeland, assisted by Mathieu Lejeune.
Filming the series of music videos for Cabinet of Wonder was no small undertaking and involved no less than 150 gifted artists and technicians (find them credited below). Chicago Children’s Theatre (CCT) cast and prepared 24 child actors, designed and built sets, commissioned shadow puppetry by Manual Cinema, and hired two video production companies, Little Cabin and Big Foot Media, to capture all the magic on film. Master cabinet maker and woodcarver Matt Gordon designed and built the big blue cabinet. Chicago’s legendary theatrical photographer Joe Mazza created stunning portraiture and playful behind-the-scenes photography. Filming was split between July 2024 and January 2025 in Chicago, with Natalie editing in New York with Andrew Pulaski of the post-production company, Abstrakt.
A scientific paper underscoring the benefits of teaching through the arts in early childhood and Cabinet of Wonder specifically, was written by early childhood experts Dr. Dana Suskind and Stayce Camparo, M.A.Soc; M.A.Psych, and Liz Sablich, M.P.P. with the Thirty Million Words Initiative at The University of Chicago, Reimagining Mother Goose: How Nursery Rhymes Cultivate Cognitive and Emotional Skills in Young Children. In early 2025, CCT and CSO assembled a team of early childhood experts and teaching artists to help Natalie adapt her curriculum to meet National Head Start Association standards. Finally, web developers Katie Pendlay and Vijay Lathiya worked closely with Natalie for several months to bring all these assets together to build this intricately layered website.
This website was launched on November 1, 2025 in partnership with the National Head Start Association and was immediately made available to tens of thousands of pre-school classrooms nationwide. Thousands of children in the Chicago Public School system are now participating in a pilot program using Cabinet of Wonder materials in their classrooms. What began as a single artist’s desire to connect with young children and share the joy of music and poetry a few hours per week has been transformed into a groundbreaking arts-in-education experiment. The Cabinet of Wonder family is ever increasing, it gathers and spreads more and more love as it grows. Please join us, you’re as welcome as can be!
Cabinet of Wonder © 2025 Natalie Merchant, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Children’s Theatre
Still Photography © 2025 joe mazza | brave lux inc.
Shadow Puppetry © 2025 Manual Cinema
Music compositions © 2025 Molly Castle Music (ASCAP) & Glass Fox Music (ASCAP) All rights reserved.
Cabinet of Wonder is a monumental labor of love that would not have been possible without the loving support and generosity of donors and artists who gave their time and talents freely to this project. We owe a special debt of gratitude to all the parents and grandparents of the child actors and singers for their generosity and patience.
Cabinet of Wonder created and directed by: Natalie Merchant
Executive Producers:
Natalie Merchant
Jacqueline Russell: Chicago Children’s Theatre, Artistic Director
Jonathan McCormick: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Managing Director of the Negaunee Music Institute
With:
Will Bishop: Director of Production
Katy Clusen: CSO for Kids, Associate Director
Cast
Natalie
Rosie
Henry
Sadie
Daxton
Jordyn
Oliver
Anthony
January
Catherine
Nora
Isabel
Vincent
Violet
Noa
Frankie
Athena
Simran
Andy
Queen
Hannah
Kobby
Frances
Adélaïde
Jack
Music
All songs written and sung by Natalie Merchant
Megan Gould: Orchestrator & Arranger
Musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra:
Karen Basrak: Cello
Oto Carrillo: Horn
Patricia Dash: Percussion
Baird Dodge: Violin & Viola
Emma Gerstein: Flute
Mihaela Ionescu: Violin
Robert Kassinger: Double Bass & Electric Bass
Tage Larsen: Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Miles Maner: Bassoon
Gene Pokorny: Tuba
Susan Synnestvedt: Violin
Charles Vernon: Trombone
John Bruce Yeh: Clarinet & Bass Clarinet
Special Guests:
Richard Brasseale: Tenor Saxophone
David Caplan: Cello
Julia Coronelli: Harp
Jeremy Cunningham: Drums
Matt Gold: Acoustic Guitar
Simón Gómez Gallego: Percussion & Timpani
Megan Gould: Fiddle
Hugo Saavedra: Trombone
Tom Vaitsas: Piano & Celesta
Child Vocals:
Elliot
Raphael
Katherine
Jordan
Ryan
Zariah
Audio Recording:
Ryan Freeland: Chief Recording & Mix Engineer
Mathieu Lejeune: Recording Engineer
Kim Rosen: Mastering Engineer
Brian Fox: Assistant Engineer
Taylor Hales: Assistant Engineer
Lauren MacDonald: Assistant Engineer
Greg Norman: Assistant Engineer
Jon San Paolo: Assistant Engineer
Music Video Production
Little Cabin Films & Big Foot Media
Tim Whalen: Director
Andrew J. Morgan: Director of Photography
Nick Nummerdor: Producer
Music Video Post-Production
Abstrakt
Andrew Pulaski: Supervisor, Editor & Colorist
Shadow Puppetry | Manual Cinema
Sarah Fornace: Shadow Puppetry Director
Drew Dir: Shadow Puppetry Design & Fabrication
Elle Fitzgerald: Shadow Puppetry Fabrication & Manipulation
Music Video | Creative Team
Mariah Anzaldo Hale: Mother Goose Costume Design & Fabrication
Natalie Merchant: Child Costume Design & Fabrication
Matt Gordon: Cabinetmaker
Music Video | Props, Sets, Wardrobe, Hair & Make-Up
Lonnae Hickman: Props
Grace Needlman: Set Design & Props
Janelle Smith: Wardrobe Supervisor
Janelle Manno: Stitcher
Madeline Felauer: Stitcher
Stacey Herbert & Lana McKinnon, Studio Standard Makeup: Hair & Make-Up
Music Video | Film Crew
Fabián Aguirre: Steadicam Operator
John Shaw: Camera Operator & Digital Imaging Technician
Ryan Marshall: 1st Assistant Camera
Ryan Winnicki: Gaffer
Ethan Schoenborn: DMX / Grip
Val Flores: Grip
Mitchell Ray Cheng: Slate / Production Assistant
Aparajita Sahay: Production Assistant
Isaac McMichael: Production Assistant
Zach Rimkus: Production Assistant
Elijah K. Ashburn: Production Assistant
Laura Lacher: Production Assistant
Miss Natalie’s Room | Film Crew
Andrew Pulaski: Director of Photography:
Quentin Little: Producer
Taras Nebesnyy: Steadicam Operator
Dante Corrocher: First Assistant Cameraman
Uriah Kalahiki: Second Assistant Cameraman
Andrew Cook: Gaffer
Sean O’Leary: Key Grip
Megan Snowder: Lighting Board Operator
Andrew Calvo: G & E Swing
Qu Worthy: Rigging Grip
Cameron Allen: Rigging Grip
Nick Price: Production Sound Mixer
Patrick Bresnahan: Boom Operator
Patrick Jennings: Production Assistant
Kateryna Sazonova: Production Assistant
Miss Natalie’s Room | Props, Sets, Wardrobe, Hair & Make-Up
Janelle Smith: Wardrobe Supervisor
Bridget Rzymski: Make-Up Artist
Lana McKinnon: Hair Stylist
Lonnae Hickman: Props Design
Who is Mother Goose?
Shadow Puppetry by Manual Cinema
Sarah Fornace, Drew Dir: Shadow Puppetry
Lizi Breit: Puppeteer
Maren Celest: Director of Photography
Natalie Merchant, Jacqueline Russell: Scriptwriters
Miss Natalie, Sadie, Raphael, Katherine: Narration
Jordyn, Nora, Rosie, Oliver, Andy, Frances: Shadow Children
Ryan Freeland: Recording & Mix Engineer
Gideon Levine: Sound Engineer
Titles
Jessica Hische: Typographic Design
Graphic Animation | Oddfellows
Jarratt Moody, Chris Kelly: Creative Directors
Erica Kelly: Producer
Mélina Poiré, Claudio Salas: Animators
Anastasios Theo: The Cabinet Curtain Compositing
Sound
Nick Mastorakis: Sound Mixing
Photography
Joe Mazza: Portrait & BTS Photographer
Website Design:
Natalie Merchant, Katie Pendlay, Vijay Lathiya
Documentary Filming
Todd Rosenberg, Parker Nyquist, Brendan Leahy, John Shaw
Holly Houlf, Crafty Chicago: Catering
Chicago Children’s Theatre
Jacqueline Russell: Artistic Director
Will Bishop: Director of Production
Catherine Councell: Teaching Artist
Liz Yerkovich: Child Choreographer
Juliana Cogswell: Assistant Child Choreographer
Harper Crewse: Assistant Production Manager
Maria Clara Ospina: Community Engagement Associate
Sam Mauceri: Director of Education & Access Programs
Sivan Spector: Education & Community Programs Manager
Anthony Whitson-Martini: Education & School Partnerships Manager
Ben Koucherik: General Manager
Matt Merrill: Director of Development
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Jonathan McCormick: Managing Director of the Negaunee Music Institute
Katy Clusen: CSO for Kids, Associate Director
Vanessa Moss: Vice President, Orchestra and Building Operations
Jiwon Sun: Manager, Audio Media and Audio-Visual Operations
Kevin Gupana: Associate Director of Giving, Educational and Engagement Programs
Katie Eaton: Coordinator, School Partnerships
Jackson Brown: Programs Assistant, Negaunee Music Institute
Carol Kelleher: Assistant, CSO for Kids
Educational Support
TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, University of Chicago
Dr. Dana Suskind, Director and Professor of Surgery & Pediatrics
Elizabeth Sablich, Communications Director
Psych
Diana Smith, Research Programs Director
Carole Robertson Center for Learning Head Start Program
National Head Start Association
Yasmina Vinci, Executive Director National Head Start Association
Dr. Deborah Bergeron, Deputy Director Community Engagement & Innovation
Rachel Hutchison, Senior Manager of Online Instructional Design
Julia Smith
Emily Porter
Special Thanks
Lori Julian
William Boyer
Rita Ferrari
Walter Pulaski
Mary Hynes-Berry
Cleo Goldberg
Dana Arnett & Anna Mort
Paul Livornese
Steve Albini
Liz Penta
Grace Winston
Theatre Wit, Chicago IL
University Club of Chicago, Rina Ranalli, Amy Carr
Rowan Woodwork Kingston, NY
Troy, NY Head Start Directors: Morgan Storms, Katherine Maciol & Tia Nunziato
Troy NY, Musician Volunteers
Connor Armbruster, Joe Bonville, Robert Button, Peter Fisher, Josh Greenberg,
Mike Jenkins, Jeff Roberts, John Roberts & Alex Simon
Troy, NY Sewing Volunteers
Sarah Brown, Sandra Catricala, Jane Falkenstein, Anne Marie Habler, Kathy Jimino, Pam Keenan, Anne Kelly, Betsey Kuzia, Linda Mac Cloud, Annette Murmane, Lynne Roblin, Mary Ann Spencer & Katherine Storms
Troy, NY Set Design, Fabrication & Painting
MMC Millwork & Spencer Musser
Troy, NY Photographers
Tamara Hansen, Christian Laursen, Mark McCarty & Mark Van Wormer
Finelli Construction Troy, NY
The Foundry Cohoes, NY
The Commission on Economic Opportunity Troy, NY
