Were CA Critics Charmed by A Little Princess?
by Broadway Staff • Aug 31, 2004
The Brian Crawley/Andrew Lippa musical version of Francis Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess officially arrived at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California on August 28. The new musical is being backed by Dodger Theatricals, has Broadway hopes and a director, Susan H. Schulman, who already found success with a page-to-stage adaptation of a children's novel The Secret Garden. Were California critics enchanted by the show?
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Steven Winn of The San Francisco Chronicle: "Where the Marsha Norman book and soaring Lucy Simon score for The Secret Garden tapped the emotional complexity and dramatic potential of its story, this Little Princess remains largely monochromatic. The characters are undeveloped. Lippa's capable but unmemorable music doesn't provide much lift. Unlike her hauntingly evocative Secret Garden set, [Heidi] Ettinger's ghostly London scrims and boarding school rooms here are simultaneously busy and sketchy. Even as this treatment of the Princess story keeps injecting African characters and dance onto Sara's gray life and consciousness in London, the hoped-for theatrical alchemy feels more invented than essential. The show never establishes a strong sense of personal urgency about Sara's connection to Africa in the first place. Its rather thin portrayal of her trials in London doesn't make the pull of another world strong enough."
Karen D'Souza of The Mercury News: "Lippa, who made a splash with The Wild Party, captures the unfettered yearning of childhood in music achingly driven by African drumbeats. But the book by Crawley who wrote Violet clunks along predictably, and while the musical has its truly moving moments, especially in the scenes between Sara and her handsome adventurer father Will Chase, it also can feel a little pat. A Little Princess tends to fall back too often on its cuteness. The adorably prim cadre of proper English little girls Lizzi Jones sparkles the brightest, the redoubtable servants, even the wicked old headmistress the fine Kimberly King, seem cut from the same pleasantly generic cloth. Crawley's book touches on many themes, from the bonds of the father/daughter relationship to the damning legacy of British colonialism, but mines none of them fully. Too many bit characters sweep in for a pithy remark without driving the story forward... Even at the show's best such as Sara's anthem 'Live Out Loud'', it fails to punctuate Sara's reversals of fortune strongly enough. But [Mackenzie] Mauzy definitely has the pipes and the grace to carry a show this big on her shoulders, once it figures out where it wants to go."
Chad Jones of The Oakland Tribune: "A Little Princess may be ready for the Bay Area, but it sure isn't ready for Broadway… While there are a number of terrific qualities to this Princess--some appealing songs, a lively ensemble, a fantastic leading lady--there are major structural problems and a surprising lack of depth and emotion in a show that feels overblown at more than 21/2 fidgety hours… The main plot point of A Little Princess involves Sara's fall from rich daughter of a national hero to penniless pauper. But Crawley's book takes its sweet time getting there. We spend so much time in Africa and then getting to know the horrid Miss Minchin, played with smiling nastiness by Kimberly King, that the plot doesn't kick in until the end of Act 1. After intermission, things become muddled as the musical veers even further from the book. The second act includes one of the show's most vibrant production numbers, a fantasy journey to Africa called 'Timbuktu,' but otherwise confusion reigns."
Here is a sampling of what they had to say:
Steven Winn of The San Francisco Chronicle: "Where the Marsha Norman book and soaring Lucy Simon score for The Secret Garden tapped the emotional complexity and dramatic potential of its story, this Little Princess remains largely monochromatic. The characters are undeveloped. Lippa's capable but unmemorable music doesn't provide much lift. Unlike her hauntingly evocative Secret Garden set, [Heidi] Ettinger's ghostly London scrims and boarding school rooms here are simultaneously busy and sketchy. Even as this treatment of the Princess story keeps injecting African characters and dance onto Sara's gray life and consciousness in London, the hoped-for theatrical alchemy feels more invented than essential. The show never establishes a strong sense of personal urgency about Sara's connection to Africa in the first place. Its rather thin portrayal of her trials in London doesn't make the pull of another world strong enough."
Karen D'Souza of The Mercury News: "Lippa, who made a splash with The Wild Party, captures the unfettered yearning of childhood in music achingly driven by African drumbeats. But the book by Crawley who wrote Violet clunks along predictably, and while the musical has its truly moving moments, especially in the scenes between Sara and her handsome adventurer father Will Chase, it also can feel a little pat. A Little Princess tends to fall back too often on its cuteness. The adorably prim cadre of proper English little girls Lizzi Jones sparkles the brightest, the redoubtable servants, even the wicked old headmistress the fine Kimberly King, seem cut from the same pleasantly generic cloth. Crawley's book touches on many themes, from the bonds of the father/daughter relationship to the damning legacy of British colonialism, but mines none of them fully. Too many bit characters sweep in for a pithy remark without driving the story forward... Even at the show's best such as Sara's anthem 'Live Out Loud'', it fails to punctuate Sara's reversals of fortune strongly enough. But [Mackenzie] Mauzy definitely has the pipes and the grace to carry a show this big on her shoulders, once it figures out where it wants to go."
Chad Jones of The Oakland Tribune: "A Little Princess may be ready for the Bay Area, but it sure isn't ready for Broadway… While there are a number of terrific qualities to this Princess--some appealing songs, a lively ensemble, a fantastic leading lady--there are major structural problems and a surprising lack of depth and emotion in a show that feels overblown at more than 21/2 fidgety hours… The main plot point of A Little Princess involves Sara's fall from rich daughter of a national hero to penniless pauper. But Crawley's book takes its sweet time getting there. We spend so much time in Africa and then getting to know the horrid Miss Minchin, played with smiling nastiness by Kimberly King, that the plot doesn't kick in until the end of Act 1. After intermission, things become muddled as the musical veers even further from the book. The second act includes one of the show's most vibrant production numbers, a fantasy journey to Africa called 'Timbuktu,' but otherwise confusion reigns."