Little House Tours the Prairie
Rating: 4
Little House on the Prairie The Musical
Starlight Theatre Association
I should start out by confessing that this was my first visit to Starlight. I'm generally not fond of theatre where I have to use binoculars to see the actor's facial expressions, nor do I typically enjoy musicals, but I am a great minority judging from the thousands of people that attended this show. Truthfully, I primarily went because I have a twelve-year-old daughter whose favorite television show happens to be "Little House on the Prairie". Her review amounted to "I can't believe I just saw Melissa Gilbert," so I'll try to do a little better.
Like a superhero's origin story, every new iteration of "Little House" is forced to recount how the family traveled west and settled in Minnesota before it can get down to business. The script did this in broad strokes, jumping from the wagon train to the claims office to the school house to tilling the land to famine while spanning summer and winter in huge steps. It made the first act horribly episodic and it never lingered long enough on one thing to give it any real impact. Triumph quickly followed on the heels of tragedy, with disaster returning only a song later. The only moment that really worked is when Mary got scarlet fever, and even then it felt more like just another pioneer hardship than a turning point in the story. Act One was lively and boisterous but never engaging.
The second act settled down and fared much better. Laura grows up quickly and takes a job teaching to pay for Mary's education. Most of the act is focused on her relationship with Almanzo, and it's handled delicately and believably in small steps. It's here that the burden of the play falls on Laura, and Kara Lindsay did an amazing job of maturing from wild child to responsible adult right before our eyes. It's a challenging role for any young actress and she made the play worth watching.
However, most people attending this show were probably just interested in seeing Melissa Gilbert as Ma. I hope they weren't disappointed to find that her role is secondary, but the fact that she's there at all is crucial. It somehow makes the show legitimate and not just some nostalgic cash-grab, and it wouldn't be the same experience without her. It doesn't matter that Gilbert can't sing as well as her co-stars. In fact, it was kind of refreshing to see someone on stage who wasn't belting out everything Broadway-style. There was only one moment where she had to strain to hit the notes, and it happened to be the only time where I felt the presence of young Melissa Gilbert from my childhood. Perhaps singing on the Starlight stage is a hardship of its own, but it was one of the few moments that felt truly honest.
As for the rest of the cast, Steve Blanchard as Charles Ingalls had a fine speaking voice, but often seemed too gruff and angry. Kate Loprest was fine as Nellie, but the role is too cartoonish to do much with. If anything, I'd say she was too self aware of her own snootiness, playing into her reputation as one of television's most famous teen villains. Jessica Hershberg as Mary was dutifully pleasant and bland. There were several other supporting characters, one of which was Michael Boxleitner, Melissa Gilbert's son, as Willy Oleson. He does a fine job. The role of storekeeper Mr. Oleson is pitifully small, and Mrs. Oleson - so memorable from the television show - is not even in the play. That goes to show how much this story is about Laura and her peers. The only standout role besides Laura was Almanzo Wilder, played by Kevin Massey. His was the only character truly eager to conquer the west, never getting disheartened or letting his ambition waver except when faced with the equally rambunctious Laura. A point is repeatedly made about who belongs out west and who doesn't. Laura and Almanzo were two people who could easily tame the frontier. To paraphrase Laura, "The more scared I get, the more I want to do it." Model pioneers!
For a major touring show, the sets were simplistic and functional. A couple of walls made a house, a leather strap tied to the floor made a wagon, and a hanging sign made a general store. Everything was dominated by a glowing sky projected on a backdrop, representing the expansive prairie. This left the stage wide open to fill with colorful costumes and several interludes that demonstrated the physical labor it required to survive. The simplicity was effective, but maybe not from row ZZ at Starlight.
I was hoping the music would be a little more authentic to the period. The score by prolific British film composer Rachel Portman repeatedly reached for the grandiose, but there's nothing that felt especially homespun or folksy. It mostly pulsed and crescendoed like a movie soundtrack, but at least it wasn't drippingly sentimental, which could have easily ruined the show. The same goes for the lyrics by Donna Di Novelli, which only made me cringe from sappiness once or twice. I didn't go home humming any of the tunes, but I don't necessarily think a musical needs to do that. There's plenty of show-stopping, applause-seeking numbers, especially in the first act, but the most effective songs were Laura's moments of self-reflection, building to a climactic solo at the end that was the only time I felt moved to applaud.
Thematically, the focus was on coming of age and Laura trying to decide what kind of woman she's going to be - one that acts for herself or for others. There's a touch of modern feminism and I'm not sure if it's from the books or not, but it's unobtrusive. There's also some overt politics that I don't remember from the television show. These pioneers are obviously infected with "manifest destiny" and on orders to go forth and multiply from Washington, D.C. The story doesn't exactly lean one way or the other on the issue, but they're apparently not just building a life on the prairie, they're building America. Unfortunately, this didn't expand the scope of the play so much as put too modern a perspective on things. These are minor issues in a play that's largely about what kind of person it takes to conquer the frontier and the physical and mental difficulties they face, something that made the "Little House on the Prairie" books beloved classics, and which this play demonstrates admirably.
read the review at KC Stage
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