"little house" musical to hit the stage
A.P. - A musical based on the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder is coming to the stage and will make its debut in the state where the author spent many of her childhood years, a theater spokesperson said Monday.

"Little House on the Prairie" will premiere at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, be directed next summer by Francesca Zambello and could go national, said Guthrie director Joe Dowling.

"Obviously we're hoping that if it's a success it will have a future life," Dowling said. "We're looking at, in conjunction with our national partners, a national tour."

Zambello called the property to Dowling's attention, saying he thought the musical would be a natural for the Guthrie, given the books are set in the Midwest.

The books present a version of Wilder's years growing up in the 1870s and 1880s, when the Ingalls family lived in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota and South Dakota.

Wilder's work "has a deep and powerful connection to the people of the Midwest," Dowling said. "This musical fits perfectly within the Guthrie's goal to develop new work that speaks directly to this community."

Zambello said she wanted to make a musical of the "Little House" stories from the moment she rediscovered them as an adult.

"Our musical focuses on the independent spirit of the teenager Laura Ingalls Wilder and her struggles to become an adult, alongside the story of the land as it becomes the American West," Zambello said.

Zambello has directed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Washington Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Royal Opera in London.

The book for the musical is being written by Rachel Sheinkin, who in 2005 won the Tony for best book of a musical for Broadway's "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

Rachel Portman, an Oscar winner for her score of "Emma," will compose the music with lyrics by Donna DiNovelli. Adrianne Lobel is designing the sets, and Martin Pakledinaz is the costume designer.
- posted by pioneergirl at 2:42 PM