Little House on the Prairie, The Musical
By: Keith
I confess. I’m one of those people who typically find out about books only after Hollywood has made them into movies. I read quite a bit but somehow still manage to miss life’s big culturally significant literary events. I read the Harry Potter books – last year. I read the Twilight books too – after I ran out of other stuff to read and found them sitting on my wife’s desk. I enjoyed them both. It shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody who knows this about me that I didn’t even know that The Wizard of Oz was a book until some little girl at my son’s gymnastics class told me all about it (Feeling exceedingly ashamed, I went to the bookstore that day and read it in a few hours).
Little House on the Prairie was a wildly successful series of books that I knew nothing about until Little House in the Big Woods became required reading for me during a university sociology class. The TV show, however, is a different story. It was a guilty pleasure of mine growing up when I would watch it when I came home from school. It ran for 10 years, until 1982, and has been in reruns ever since. Yes, I loved Transformers and GI Joe too. But, Little House had a different, and more powerful, appeal to me. It was a story about the pioneer spirit, the bonds of family and a community’s reliance on its member parts for survival. It resonated with my bootstrap sensibilities; and, while it was especially popular with girls, there was no reason it shouldn’t have been equally popular with boys.
The Musical:
Melissa Gilbert (Laura, from the television series) is playing Caroline Ingalls (Laura’s mother) in the musical adaptation of the books. I completely missed the fact that it opened at The Guthrie, in Minneapolis, on August 15th, but I’m right on time for its appearance in Denver this month. 
Next month it’ll be in Nebraska and then continues on to Wisconsin. For tickets, and the full schedule, visit littlehousethemusical.com. The reviews are mixed. Variety Magazine hated it, the New York Times seems ambivalent, and Broadwayworld.com loved it. Go figure. Irrespective of reviews, I plan to take my boys to see it.
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It was a great series and plays are always fun no matter what the critics say. I wouldn’t want to be the one playing Nellie though.
Yeah, I never listen to critics. I remember when roger Ebert gave Gladiator a thumbs down! I also remember Top Gun getting negative reviews. Funny how they keep their jobs.
I love that Melissa Gilbert is playing Caroline now! I’d go see it, despite critics reviews. My kids and I have read the books, so it will be interesting. And I would LOVE to play Nellie Olsen! Sometimes it’s fun to ‘play bad’. Though I remember the Nellie from the series said everyone would get fan mail, but she’d get hate mail! That would probably depress me.
Mitzi, I was surprised to hear about Melissa Gilbert playing the part of Caroline. But, you’re right, that just adds to it’s appeal. My boys know nothing of Little House on the Prairie, but this would be a great introduction!