Last week, I heard on the news that the Little House On The Prairie, The Musical would be in Raleigh, NC. I also heard that Melissa Gilbert would be playing the role of "Ma" or Caroline Ingalls. I loved the show growing up. I thought Melissa Gilbert was great as Laura Ingalls. I have watched just about everything on television that she has done. I really wanted to go see her on stage.
I also wanted to see my son's reaction to a live performance. He loves music and dancing. I also felt that his attention span was developed enough that he would be able to sit through an entire performance. After all, he did sit and watch the entire Avatar movie in the theatre.
I contacted their marketing center and they arranged for me to have 4 tickets waiting at the ticket counter. My husband wasn't thrilled. He doesn't like musicals. My children were excited. We arrived at the Progress Energy Center For The Performing Arts early. This place is really nice. I had no problem getting our tickets. We found the bathrooms with a little help. The concession stands and souvenir stands were easy to find. The cost of one bottle of water was $3.00. We bought one and that was it. My daughter wanted me to buy some souvenirs, but we couldn't afford them.
We settled into our seats, which were in the third row. I give them high marks for giving us tickets so close. If we were in the back, I'm not sure that my son would have been as entranced with the show. I'm not even sure if we would have been able to stay for the whole two and a hours if we were seated far away from the stage.
There is one important thing that I need to tell you about today's performance. Melissa Gilbert was not in it. I was very disappointed. I had heard on the news that she was having back problems, so I do understand. Nevertheless, I was still disappointed. The role of "Ma" was performed today by Meredith Inglesby. I thought she did a great job. Her chemistry with the rest of the cast appeared effortless.
The lead character is considered to be Laura Ingalls, played by Megan Campanile, but it was Kate Loprest and her portrayal of Nellie Olson that stole the show. During Act II, Kate literally stopped the show when her perfect comedic timing in one scene had the audience laughing loud and long. The three actors on stage had to wait for us to get ourselves under control before continuing their scene.
My son loved the show. He was sitting up on the edge of his seat, with his eyes fixed on the stage, for most of the performance. A couple of the slow songs had him relaxing in his seat, but once the music from the orchestra picked up, he was back up on the edge of his seat.
I recommend Little House On The Prairie, The Musical as a great family performance. Even without Melissa Gilbert it was worth going to. I am still disappointed. I would have liked to have seen her. I would have liked to have been able to interview her. I also would have liked to have interviewed other members of the cast, especially Kate Loprest. If you would like to know if there will be a performance near you, visit the Little House On The Prairie, The Musical website. You can get dates, times and ticket information on the site.
One final thought. When I asked my son what he thought of the show, he typed out "awesome."
8 comments:
The Little House On The Prairie Program Directors, and all responsible for the performance should be ashamed is every capacity of the word ASHAMED for the last minute remake of Oklahoma. Yes I said Oklahoma. God Knows the production of Little House On The Prairie was nowhere to be found. ALTHOUGH the performers portraying the roles of Nelly, Laura, and Mary were fabulous performers (especially the actress who portrayed Laura), I don't understand what the directors were thinking by changing every aspect of the original characters roles from the original series. The performance didn't portray the long running TV series Little House On The Prairie AT ALL. The serious nature of the show and hours and hours of the Little House story were absent in every way in this Raleigh Disaster. The Doctor was a older white man with a very serious concerned atmosphere about him, not a young black man with a brisk carefree "as a matter of fact" attitude. Miss Wilder was a young white woman with a very laid back relaxed personality, not an older black woman shouting at the top of her lungs and inflicting a dry sarcastic and comedic persona. And Charles, OH MY GOD is there not at least one other person you could have found to at least TRY to replicate Michaels Landon's character. His devoted and lovely family mans serious personality constantly overwhelmed by the hope for a better tomorrow. Instead you found Steve Blanchard who although played a couple of good roles including a standby for both "the Beast" and "Gaston" in Beauty And The Beast was the furthest possible look alike or act alike performer who could duplicate Michael Landon's role. Michael London never depicted a “snazzy” fast moving song and dance man; he was a very serious, heavy hearted, melancholy and overwhelmed “preacher like” man. I along with many others sitting around me were very disappointed and sorry to say he missed the role completely.
And to top it all off, It was only 10 seconds before the 8 o'clock curtain went up that an announcement that not only the "star" of the show but also 3 other lead roles will be played by understudies. It was barely expressed, and in my opinion avoided like failing cowards. I think at the very least there could have been a respectful apology made by the Director, and expressed sincerely. Once again I say this was a disgrace, and although many of the performers were highly regarded and honorable in their performance, there didn't seem to be any similarities portrayed by the original cast or the original premise for the Little House On The Prairie series.
That is very harsh. You have a right to your opinion, by I disagree strongly with it. This was a musical, surely you were not expecting a serious drama? I thought Blanchard's was great as Charles. The casting of the doctor should not matter. This was a theatrical production. The same goes for Miss Wilder. All in all, I think that they did a great job. The show was meant to be one that you could bring your family to and enjoy. I enjoyed it. My kids enjoyed it. The orchestra was great. The visual effects, especially the fire, were perfect for the production. I would have liked to have seen Melissa Gilbert performing, but can understand that these things happen.
ooh, i love musicals!!! i would love to have gone.
trisha
momdot.com
Dear Tammy, my intent originally was to find out and alert the directors as to what took place on Saturday evening.
Now after seeing the show and speaking to many many people during the intermission, i realize what happened. The original intent and story boards were changed days before the show was to run. Let me express to you that for theatre goers like my self (seeing a minimum of 80 performances a year at theaters stretching from Los Angeles to NY), it is a very serious and heartfelt disappointment when the Directors and staff behind the scenes drop the ball. My passion for actors is unmeasurable.
Quite often its not the actors but the Directors who make choices that destroy the performance. The performers in this production in Raleigh were not horrible, they were working diligently at the last minute to rearrange their take on the entire performance so they can follow through with their contract to perform. I am sure that many of them were just as sick as I was however acted to the best of their ability with what they had to work with. If you had seen the series growing up and realized that all the characters were portrayed incorrectly, you may than understand why many were so upset.
When a spoof or variation of a performance is produced for example to make something comedic or sad, or completely different than it is, the producer and actors, actresses and sponsors go out of their way to depict this prior to the show running. If you saw for example the interview with Melissa Gilbert on the local news, at no time did they express that they were going to put on a production that wasn't going to resemble the original series. Instead they did completely the opposite and showed a very dedicated desire to revisit the original cast, theme and production of the original series. THIS THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO DO. So understand that I along with many others were intending to see Melissa Gilbert and revisiting Little House from years ago, not the remake of Oklahoma.
Just another note from Theatre Goer Chapel Hill......
My direction discussing the two characters who were african american, was to depict the concept that if the directors ideas were to revisit the original series, than why use two characters (fantastic in their own right) who were the wrong choice because the added charisma and vim and vigor to a cast that changed the insight of the original characters portraying roles never before seen on this series. Its not that they were bad performers they were just the wrong performers for these roles. For example when mary found out she was blind, it wasn't supposed to go unnoticed in "well she is never gonna see again" idea. It was in fact a sad, tear jerking moment where the doctor originally played by Kevin Hagan was actually shedding tears with his hand held out in front of him surrendering all he had in his heart as he told this family and young girl there wasn't any cure or treatment for her blindness. In my eyes I detected 0 sensitivity, 0 seriousness, and if you saw the original Michael Landon didn't break his hand banging the table screaming in anger. He instead grasped the back of a chair bending into an emotional tear jerking moment expressing his inability to understand why GOD and medicine couldn't help her to see. (Be It As It was).
Hi Theatre Goer. No one can ever live up to Michael Landon's performance in the television show. I was disappointed that Melissa Gilbert wasn't performing yesterday. I watched the television show growing up and have seen every episode several times. There is no way that the entire life of Laura Ingalls and her family could be portrayed on stage within the time constraints that they have. They had to pick and choose what they had on stage. Key points in her life were enacted on stage, and the performances were moving. I disagree that this is a last minute remake of Oklahoma. Yes, I'm sure there are simlarities in the sets. This is the kind of show that you would bring your family to. I'm sorry that you were disappointed, but the joy on my son's face while he was watching it made this a show that I would go to numerous times. You can find fault with anything, if you examine hard enough. The bottom line for me is that I enjoyed it and my kids did too.
I am glad you had a great time Tammy. It sounds like fun. I used to act out Little House on the Prairie when I was little.
Though I was extremely disappointed by the fact Ms. Gilbert was unable to preform, I was not necessarily expecting this musical to parallel the TV series. It parallels the book series while incorporating some aspects from the TV series into a production of a little over two hours. The TV series was based on the books but certainly took a lot of liberties that has also been criticized. Michael Landon's son tried a few years ago to make a Little House series that was more in following the books.
I am sure I would never have bought tickets had Ms. Gilbert not been billed as the star. I still enjoyed the afternoon and feel good that some of the proceeds are going to benefit Habitat for Humanity.
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