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Marc Rossio / The Marvelous Toy - News & Reviews

Article from the Messenger

The Marvelous Toy" knows how to play with a purpose

By John Matuszak Eastside Editor

Some toys are entertaining, and some are educational. “The Marvelous Toy” is both, for parents as well as children - and doesn’t even need batteries.

“The Marvelous Toy” is Marc Rossio, a 40-year-old local singer-songwriter for children who, in just three years, has leaped from performances at birthday parties and preschools to the brink of national and international recognition.

Rossio will perform at the Leo Yassenoff Jewish Community Center Sept. 11 at 4 p.m. as the first act of the 2005-06 Mim Chenfeld Children’s Art Fund Series, named for the highly regarded Columbus educator and author. The event also will be a celebration of the release of Rossio’s second compact disc, “L’Chaim - To Life,” a collection of Judaic-themed songs inspired by the children of central Ohio and the JCC.

The JCC is where Rossio found his audience, and he returns every Friday to conduct a musical Shabbat Sabbath assembly for the kids of the Early Education Program. His professional moniker comes from the Tom Paxton song about a delightful but undefinable doohickey that is passed down from father to son. The image is an apt metaphor for his own career and the influences he has accumulated along the way, Rossio commented.

“My niche is everything.” It also describes the playfulness and purpose in his music.

Rossio took a roundabout route to get to where he is today. Born in San Francisco, his family moved to New Jersey and Pittsburgh before arriving in Columbus when Marc was 10. He credits his father with being his “biggest influence,” particularly on his sense of humor. “We’d have these two-hour dinners. We’d just sit around and laugh.”

His mother, a teacher, passed along a love of children. Her family had also been involved in music and show business. Marc picked up a guitar at 9. After graduating from Walnut Ridge High School, he spent a couple of years doing stand-up comedy, opening for acts that went on to national prominence. He earnied a degree in fine arts at Ohio State University, then went into his father’s apparel business. His working life also included stints in sales and running his own advertising company.

But the 70-hour weeks weren’t conducive to family life, and when son Jack was born he decided to become a stay-at-home dad. That career move would prove to be life-altering.

Spending time with his son watching the children’s show “The Wiggles” showed Rossio how much influence music has on children, particularly when Jack began singing with an Australian accent. He had kept up with his own musical interests, and was encouraged by friends to hire himself out to birthday parties. At Temple Israel synagogue, he was enlisted to put together a children’s Haigh Holidays program. Attendance jumped from 70 the first year to 450 two years later. A stint working six hours a day with the JCC summer camps, while “torture” on his voice, further pointed Rossio in the right direction. “It was where I found my audience. I learned how to work with large groups of kids. It was also the first place I worked with children of different religions.”

His performances became a mix of “high-energy immaturity” with knock-knock jokes and sing-alongs, and lessons “to help children through childhood” and such traumas as going to the dentist and getting shots. He released his first CD, “Batteries Not Included,” a collection of secular songs, in 1993. After attending a conference with some the world’s top Jewish entertainers for children, Rossio was inspired to compose songs that would teach about Jewish traditions and Old Testament values.

“It’s like my rabbi says, 'We can all learn to be better persons,'” Rossio said. “My Silent Prayer” is an eloquent offering of thanks, a plea for compassion for those in need and a petition for knowledge. “The Little Mouse” teaches about the rituals of the Sabbath through the eyes of a furry little creature who watches and gets to share in the challah bread. The songs not only teach Jewish children about their own religion, but can educate other children and promote tolerance, Rossio hopes. And then the kids go home and teach the parents. “I teach Judaism as a community, not as a religion,” Rossio observed. Rossio hasn’t forgotten how to leaven his lessons with a little silliness. “Oogiot” teaches kids the funny-sounding Hebrew word for cookie.

The music is having a particularly profound effect on children with special needs. A school in Atlanta used Rossio’s CD as a motivator to get a disabled girl to take independent steps. He later attended the girl’s birthday party and was treated “like a rock star.” “The Marvelous Toy” is keeping it all in the family. Daughter Hannah sings with him on the CD, and Jack is ready to make his studio debut.

Rossio’s talents have attracted attention across the region and the country. He performs at Jewish centers and other venues around the midwest, and has been part of the Columbus Library concert series for two years. His buskering at Easton Town Center earned him a regular gig at the McDonald’s there, serenading the Wednesday lunchtime crowd. The sale of his CDs benefits McDonald’s charities. When the restaurant began attracting the largest mid-day crowd in the area, it piqued the curiosity of a top executive. Rossio is now in talks with the chain about sponsoring a local television show. His CDs are circulating at Nickelodeon, the children’s cable network, and his songs are being included in a compilation of Jewish entertainers that will be distributed worldwide. His ambition is to have a national TV show, but he promises to always come back to the JCC. What makes “The Toy” run? “Passion’s the key to everything I do.”

The possibility of fame hasn’t taken the kid out of him. “I’m the biggest four-year-old you’ll meet,” Rossio explained. “My brothers used to tell me Œgrow up.’ Now they call and say 'I’m glad you didn’t listen to us.'”

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