REVIEW: 'Little House on the Prairie, The Musical' at TPAC

 

Life on the prairie was daunting and not for the faint of heart and that cold reality is brought all too vividly to life onstage in the production of Little House on the Prairie, the new musical now playing at TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall, with music by Rachel Portman, lyrics by Donna Di Novelli and a book by Rachel Sheinkin.

This stage version of Laura Ingalls Wilder's series of books about life among hardy homesteaders in the western United States during the second half of the 19^th Century certainly has much dramatic portent and an abiding sense of nostalgic familiarity, yet the musical falls short of its goals, failing to fully engage the audience.

Even the presence of Melissa Gilbert - who so memorably played "Half-Pint" in the Little House TV series of the 1970s and '80s and now is cast as Caroline Ingalls - can't save this musical from mediocrity. Try as they might, Gilbert and her castmates unfortunately just can't get past Sheinkin's overly earnest and plodding book, Portman's completely unmemorable score or Di Novelli's clumsily crafted lyrics. Sheinkin's book does offer some glimmer of hope: There are some lovely moments to be found in the script, but they are too few and far between. Portman's score fares worse, since there is not one melody that can be recalled and all the musical numbers sound alike. Di Novelli's lyrics are even worse. When "I'm sick with wind sickness" is the only lyric you can remember, you know the show's in trouble. And, clearly, the material is not served well by director Francesca Zambello's seemingly uninspired staging (save for some creatively conceived horse-racing sequences).

In many ways, Little House on the Prairie seems an amalgam of other shows and scores, with some snippets of Oklahoma, Paint Your Wagon, Quilters, The Secret Garden, Ragtime and even Wicked (I am convinced that Nellie Oleson is the grandmother of Wicked's Galinda...hey, Kansas ain't that far from the Dakotas...it could happen). Unfortunately, it comes off as so much less than the sum of its parts.

So what happened? The Little House books are beloved by millions of readers and the TV series has just as many (if not more) followers. Perhaps part of the blame can be heaped upon the more than a dozen producers, who apparently hoped to create art by committee - and failed. Their vision of life on the prairie is bleak and full of despair, with only more of the same to underscore the hardscrabble life led by the homsteaders. They almost freeze to death in the frigid temperatures of their first Dakota winter, then almost die in the fires that destroy their first successful wheat crop and they must endure disease and pestilence if they are to keep their claim on the land.

But thank God for scarlet fever! When Mary Ingalls is rendered blind by a particularly virulent bout of scarlet fever, there is actually genuine emotion represented onstage, and the scenes between sisters Laura and Mary are dramatically charged and sweetly moving. Still, there's only so much emotion you can wring from that without becoming maudlin and manipulative.

In musical theatre, characters break into song when their emotions become so big, so overwhelming, that the only way they can adequately express themselves is through music. However, in Little House on the Prairie, so much of what they sing about is mundane that it renders the more dramatic moments weak and ineffectual. Di Novelli's lyrics are so resoundingly and thuddingly dull and inexpressive that you find it difficult to relate to the characters and their plight. In fact, by show's end, you're exhausted by the hard life they've led for two and a half hours.

Little House on the Prairie, however, will probably have a pretty good life on tour. Led by Gilbert, who is still an engaging stage presence (and who looks not much older than you remember from her halcyon TV days), the show has legs - on the road. I can't imagine Broadway audiences taking too kindly to the show (and I can only imagine what New York critics would have to say), but it will have a fairly successful life being licensed to regional and community theatre groups. It's a wholesome story that can be staged easily and creatively and that will make it attractive for companies in the provinces, as it were.

Adrianne Lobel's clever scenic design is very effective, as is the evocative lighting design by Mark McCullough and Jess Goldstein's terrific costume design. Michele Lynch's choreography doesn't make much of an impression, although there are a couple of nice numbers (even if one of them comes after the curtain calls) to somewhat satisfy the musical theatre devotee.

Despite the production's shortcomings, the cast deliver generally heartfelt and largely satisfying performances. Gilbert is not a great singer, but she acquits herself favorably in her musical numbers. One suspects that her "Wild Child" number, which comes late in Act Two, was added to take advantage of her star power, yet it only underscores Caroline's emotional distance from Laura, who seems far closer to her father Charles. Steve Blanchard, one of Broadway's most accomplished leading men, gives a strong performance as "Pa," Charles Ingalls, and his rich baritone is used to good effect. Kara Lindsey, cast as Laura, is particularly well-cast and makes her character's transition from child to young woman as seamless as possible and adds much-needed energy to her songs. Her duet with Mary (Alessa Neeck, who is quite good as the noble, blind girl) in Act One's "I'll Be Your Eyes" is genuinely moving and shows, however fleetingly, what could have been possible in Portman's score. As Carrie Ingalls, Carly Rose Sonenclar borders on the precocious, sitcom child cliché.

As Almanzo Wilder, Laura Ingalls' suitor who ultimately becomes her husband, Kevin Massey is given some of the best up-tempo numbers to sing ("Old Enough" is a good example) and he does so beautifully. His onstage chemistry with Lindsey is palpable and if the script focused more on their relationship, Little House on the Prairie would be better. Kate Loprest's wonderfully wicked Nellie Oleson adds some much-need levity to the evening's dour proceedings, without seeming too far over the top; her later scenes with Laura and Almanzo are so good as to seem like they're from another show. And the hard-working ensemble does their best with the material and help move the story along in some surprising ways (who knew the men of the Prairie could be so, well, hot?).

-- Little House on the Prairie. Book by Rachel Sheinkin. Music by Rachel Portman. Lyrics by Donna De Novelli. Directed by Francesca Zambello. Choreography by Michele Lynch. Music supervision, additional vocal and incidental music by Kevin Stites. Music direction and orchestra conducted by Richard Carsey. Presented by HCA/Tristar Broadway at TPAC Series. At Andrew Jackson Hall, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville. Through November 1. For details, visit the website at www.tpac.org.