---

-click section heading again to close this area-

Share this show with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace & more! Just click on the "Tweet" button to tweet this show to your Twitter; or on the "Add This" to post to Facebook or any one of 154 places!

 

---

-click section heading again to close this area-

Appropriateness Rating: "VERY kid/family friendly"*

Run Time: 2 hours 35 minutes, 1 intermission

http://littlehousethemusical.com/

*DSM requested "appropriateness" ratings from each show. The rating shown has been provided by the touring company's publicist.

 

"A lovely, elegant and heartwarming adaptation of the classic Laura
Ingalls Wilder novels. A moving production, which had moments of laughter as well as tears.”—New York Times

“A PURPLE-SKY, GOLDEN-WHEAT ODE TO FRONTIER AMERICA. The musical hits its target—breezes of Oklahoma and John Ford westerns sweep across the scenic landscape by Adrianne Lobel. Rachel Portman’s celebratory score and Rachel Sheinkin’s script salute pioneers who turned dirt into amber waves of grain.”—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“[THE LITTLE HOUSE] CAST, WITH MELISSA GILBERT, SHINES IN THE CLASSIC FRONTIER TALE. Don’t Go West! There’s gold right here. Little House is a female force, that’s not to say it doesn’t resonate with any man balancing the lure of adventure with the responsibilities of family. It makes you want to saddle up to the hearth with your kin, even in this summer heat.”
—The Rake Magazine (Minneapolis)

“THERE ARE FEW LITERARY LEGACIES AS BELOVED AS THAT OF LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE. The musical’s components are delivered with near-seamless professionalism. Melissa Gilbert now playing “Ma”, carries her iconic past with a good deal of grace and sings to touching effect.”—Variety

“THE STRENGTH OF THE CONCEPT ALONE WAS ENOUGH TO LURE THE PARENTS OF EVERY GIRL UNDER THE AGE OF SIXTEEN TO THE [THEATRE]. It ’s all there—Pa, Ma, the girls, a cabin—just as you might imagine it. […] Little House On The Prairie is a lot of good-hearted, high-spirited fun.”—Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE is the uplifting story of an American family forging a new life amidst the mighty challenges, heartbreaks, joys and triumphs that face them in the newly-settled heartland. It is also the story of young Laura Ingalls, as she begins her life as a young woman, finding purpose, and finding love. Above all, it is the celebration of the pioneering spirit and the core values on which this country was founded – a spirit that still resonates today.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, a new musical based on the beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder series of classic American books, will launch a national tour in October at The Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, following a five-week engagement beginning September 10 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J. Melissa Gilbert, who rose to fame as a child playing ‘Laura’ in the hugely successful NBC television series “Little House on the Prairie” during the 1970’s, now continues her legacy ‘on the prairie’ by taking on the role of Ma.

 

Plot Synopsis

ACT ONE
It is the 1880s, and the US government is opening new land for settlers in Dakota Territory. The whole country is on the move. Young LAURA INGALLS longs to move west (Thunder). Her father, CHARLES (“PA”), has to convince her mother, CAROLINE (“MA”), that moving west would present new opportunities. Ma is unsure about moving again and is worried about the hardships the family will undoubtedly face in settling untamed land, but she ultimately agrees to follow her and Pa’s shared dream of making a better life for their family, and the Ingalls family heads west (Up Ahead). Pa decides to settle near the new town of De Smet, though Laura ishes to keep on journeying (The Prairie Moves). When Pa travels to the Land Office to file his homestead claim, he meets a young homesteader, ALMANZO WILDER, who has decided to settle on his own (Old Enough). Pa returns to his family, and over several months, they build a little house on the prairie (Make It Home).

Laura, MARY, and CARRIE start school in De Smet, where they meet snobbish NELLIE OLESON, who looks down at Laura’s rough-and-tumble ways (Country Girls). Laura has a hard time adjusting to school, and causes a major disruption in the classroom (Rock). All three Ingalls sisters are sent home, as Laura and her mother consider how different Laura is from Mary (How Can You Be So Good?).

A winter of dangerous blizzards closes in and supply trains stop running. The people of De Smet are running out of food (Uncle Sam, Where are You?). Almanzo Wilder and CAP GARLAND set out to find wheat to save the town (Blizzard). Mary, Carrie and Ma become very sick, and Pa blames himself for the risk he took in leading his family out west into such peril and hardship (Tin Cup). Almanzo and Cap find the wheat, but Mary grows weak and her vision begins to fail. Laura reassures her sister and vows to help her (I’ll Be Your Eyes).

The long winter ends. Pa and Ma hope for a good crop (Almost Wheat). At a Fourth of July celebration, the Ingalls sisters watch Almanzo compete in a horse race (Go Like The Wind). Almanzo asks Laura to go buggy riding, but when a prairie fire destroys the wheat crop, the Ingalls family is penniless. Sacrificing her own personal freedom, Laura agrees to teach at a school twelve miles away to help pay Mary’s tuition at a college for the blind (I’ll Be Your Eyes Reprise).

ACT TWO
Ma and Pa prepare to send Laura and Mary away from home, in two different directions (The Prairie Moves Reprise). Laura starts teaching at the Brewster School, while Mary heads to college in Vinton, Iowa (Prairie Strong). A beleaguered MRS. BREWSTER resents having Laura stay with her, and makes life miserable. In De Smet, Nellie Oleson laments over missing Laura (Without An Enemy). Laura struggles to manage her classroom, and Mary adjusts to life away from home (How Can You Be So Good Reprise). Almanzo surprises Laura by coming in his sleigh to take her home for weekends (Faster).

As weeks go by, Laura begins to make progress with her teaching, but Mrs. Brewster grows more openly despondent over her feelings of being trapped in the untamed and empty land as she must “obey” her husband (Teach The Wind). Fearful she may be journeying down a similar path, Laura tells a startled Almanzo she’s not interested in anything more than free rides (Leaving). Laura successfully finishes the term while Mary thrives in college (Make It Home Reprise). When Laura returns to De Smet, she discovers that Mary has found her own way to pay for college and Almanzo is riding with Nellie Oleson. Laura doesn’t know what will make her life meaningful and happy anymore (My Restless Heart).

Time passes, and De Smet continues to grow and thrive (Prairie Strong Reprise). Laura, in spite of her fears, continues to be drawn to Almanzo while at the same time remains unhappy with her life and unsure of her future. She struggles to be the responsible grown woman she envisions she must be. Ma advises Laura to always keep her wild spirit (Wild Child) and Laura is finally set free. When Almanzo proposes, Laura agrees to marry him, as long as she will not have to obey him (Faster/The Prairie Moves Reprise). Laura and Almanzo marry, and the Ingalls family and the people of De Smet look forward to a bright and happy future (Go Like The Wind/Finale).

 

---

-click section heading again to close this area-

Melissa Gilbert as Caroline "Ma" Ingalls and Steve Blanchard as Charles "Pa" Ingalls in a scene from Little House on the Prairie, The Musical. © Carol Rosegg, 2009

Kara Lindsay as Laura Ingalls in a scene from Little House on the Prairie, The Musical. © Carol Rosegg, 2009

Kevin Massey (center) as Almanzo Wilder and company in a scene from Little House on the Prairie, The Musical. © Michal Daniel, 2008

Kara Lindsay (center) as Laura Ingalls in a scene from Little House on the Prairie, The Musical. © Carol Rosegg, 2009

 

 

---

-click section heading again to close this area-

Ticket prices are $15 - $71 for individual tickets. To purchase click on either the big blue "get tickets here" button at left, or on the little LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE poster thumbnail in the right-hand column.

 

---

-click section heading again to close this area-

Required amount of people to qualify for a
group is 15 for all shows except:

WICKED (20+)

Group leaders, those seeking information
please email a group sales manager.

One may also visit the Group Sales page here.

 

---

-click section heading again to close this area-

The World of the Ingalls
TIMELINE

1836
•Charles Phillip Ingalls born on January 10 in Cuba, N.Y.

1839
•Caroline Lake Quiner born on December 12 in Wisconsin.

1857
•Almanzo James Wilder born on February 13 in Malone, N.Y.

1860
•Charles Ingalls and Caroline Lake Quiner marry in Concord, Wis., on February 1.
•Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the United States.

1861
•The Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, S.C.
•The Dakota Territory is formed.

1862
•Congress passes the Homestead Act, which gives 160 acres of land to any U.S. citizen who lives on it for a specified period of time.

1863
•Charles Ingalls buys a farm in Pepin, Wis.
•The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect, freeing all slaves.
•Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.
•Lincoln proclaims the last Thursday of November as a national day of Thanksgiving.

1865
•Mary Amelia Ingalls born January 10 in Pepin.
•Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.
•Lincoln is assassinated.
•Congress passes the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery.

1867
•Laura Elizabeth Ingalls born February 7 in Pepin.
•The United States purchases Alaska from Russia.

1868
•The Ingalls family moves to Chariton County, Mo.
•The Osage Indians sign a treaty with the U.S. government for their land in the Kansas Reserve.
•Congress passes the 14th Amendment, granting citizenship to African Americans.
•Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is published.

1869
•The Ingalls family moves to Montgomery County, Kan. (the site of the original “little house on the prairie”).
•The first transcontinental railroad linking the East and West coasts of the United States is completed in Promontory Summit, northwest of Ogden, Utah.

1870
•Caroline Celesta Ingalls (Carrie) born August 3 in Montgomery County.
•Congress passes the 15th Amendment granting the right to vote, regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

1871
• The Ingalls family moves back to Pepin.
• Laura Ingalls attends school for the first time in Pepin.
• P.T. Barnum opens his circus “The Greatest Show on Earth,” in New York.

1873
• Congress passes the Timber Culture Act, granting 160 acres of timberland to any U.S. citizen who cares for 40 acres for five years.

1874
• The Ingalls family moves to Walnut Grove, Minn.

1875
• Charles Frederick Ingalls (Freddie) born November 1, in Town North Hero, Redwood County, Minn.

1876
• Charles Frederick Ingalls dies on August 27, age 9 months, and is buried in South Troy, Wabasha County, Minn.
• Souix Indians defeat Gen. George Custer in Montana in the Battle of Little Bighorn.
• Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is published.

1877
• The Ingalls family moves to Burr Oak, Iowa.
• Grace Pearl Ingalls born May 23 in Burr Oak.
• Thomas A. Edison invents the phonograph.

1878
• The Ingalls family moves back to Walnut Grove.

1879
• Mary Ingalls becomes ill and loses her sight.
• The Ingalls family moves to De Smet, S.D.
• Almanzo, Royal and Eliza Jane Wilder file claims in De Smet.

1880
• Charles Ingalls becomes justice of the peace in De Smet.
• The famous hard winter (1880 – 81).

1881
• Mary Ingalls attends the Iowa School for the Blind in Vinton, Iowa.
• Eliza Jane Wilder begins teaching in De Smet. Laura and Carrie Ingalls attend her school and Charles Ingalls is on the school board.
• President James A. Garfield is assassinated.
• The American National Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton.
• Billy the Kid is killed at Fort Sumner, N.M.

1882
• Laura Ingalls receives her teaching certificate and teaches at the Bouchie School near De Smet.

1883
• Standard time is established and time zones are formed.
• The first Wild West show is organized by Buffalo Bill Cody.

1884
• Almanzo Wilder and Laura Ingalls become engaged.
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published.

1885
• Almanzo Wilder marries Laura Ingalls on August 25.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Biography

“The Little House books are stories of long ago. Today our way of living and our schools are much different; so many things have made living and learning easier. But the real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures, and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura’s life began in the Big Woods of Wisconsin on February 7, 1867. Her parents, Charles “Pa” and Caroline “Ma” Ingalls, had married seven years earlier, and already had one daughter, Mary. When Laura was one and a half, the family traveled by covered wagon to Indian Territory (modern-day Kansas) where Pa built a house for his family, and where Laura’s sister Carrie was born in 1870.

The family was forced to leave their little house on the prairie and return to Wisconsin when their land was returned to the Osage Indians by the US Government. The family then moved to a farm on the banks of Plum Creek near the town of Walnut Grove, Minnesota. In 1875, Ma gave birth to Laura’s brother, Charles Frederick, or “Freddie,” who died in infancy. After two years struggling to make ends meet, the Ingalls family moved on again, this time to Burr Oak, Iowa. They stayed in Burr Oak for two years, managing the town’s hotel, and eventually welcomed the youngest Ingalls sister, Grace, into the world. In 1878, the family returned to Walnut Grove.

Freddie’s death and their ongoing financial problems were not the only tragedies for the Ingalls family. In 1879, Mary became very sick, suffered a stroke, and went blind. Pa instructed Laura to be “eyes” for Mary; many believe this was a key moment in Laura’s development as a storyteller. Pa continued to struggle financially, until he learned of a position with the new railroad in Dakota Territory. Pa moved ahead to the unsettled country, while the rest of the family waited for Mary to regain her strength. Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and Grace later rode a train west to meet him.

The Ingalls family spent their first months in Dakota at a railroad camp near Silver Lake. In the spring of 1880, homesteaders flooded the area, and constructed the town of De Smet. The Ingalls family built a rental building in De Smet, and claimed a homestead nearby. The winter of 1880-81 nearly wiped out the little town. The first blizzard hit in October, and it snowed almost without stopping until May. To stave off starvation, the townspeople ground wheat into flour in coffee mills for their daily bread, and two of the town’s settlers, Almanzo Wilder and Oscar Edmund “Cap” Garland, risked their lives to find more wheat on the snowbound prairie.

In 1883, two months before her sixteenth birthday, Laura obtained her teaching certificate, and began teaching in one-room schoolhouses near De Smet. Mary left Dakota Territory to attend a college for the blind in Vinton, Iowa, where she studied for eight years. Soon, Almanzo Wilder was courting Laura. They married in 1885.

Laura called the early years of her marriage “days of sunshine and shadow.” The Wilders’ daughter, Rose, was born in December 1886. Soon after, their house burned down, and both Laura and Almanzo contracted diphtheria. In 1889, the Wilders’ son died before they even named him. Difficult farming conditions and poor health led the Wilders to briefly move to Florida, before returning to De Smet. In 1894, they left the prairie for good, traveling by wagon to Mansfield, Missouri.

Laura named their new home Rocky Ridge. Laura and Almanzo’s years of relentless work and careful saving enabled them to slowly build Rocky Ridge into a prosperous farm. During the early years of the twentieth century, Laura wrote a column for an area farm newspaper. The Wilders were well-known, respected members of Mansfield society, and active in a variety of clubs and organizations.

While Laura and Almanzo were building up Rocky Ridge, Rose lived an adventurous, extraordinary life. After leaving home as a teenager, she lived around the world, becoming a telegraph operator, a real estate saleswoman, and a very successful freelance writer. By the 1920s, Rose Wilder Lane was a highly-paid, globe-trotting journalist and best-selling novelist.

By the early 1930s, Laura was living in a world that little resembled the frontier of her youth. Electricity and telephones made their way into even the smallest towns. Cars replaced horse-drawn wagons. Airplanes zoomed across the sky. Pa, Ma, and Mary had died. Laura felt they should be remembered. To commemorate her family and their many adventures, Laura wrote an autobiography titled Pioneer Girl. When she and Rose failed to find a publisher, Laura reworked the early parts of Pioneer Girl into Little House in the Big Woods, which was published in 1932.

A steady stream of Little House books followed. With Rose’s help and expertise, Laura published Farmer Boy in 1933; Little House on the Prairie in 1935; On the Banks of Plum Creek in 1937; By the Shores of Silver Lake in 1939; The Long Winter in 1940; Little Town on the Prairie in 1941, and These Happy Golden Years in 1943. Laura was 76 years old when her last book was published. The Little House books made Laura famous and wealthy. Letters, gifts, and cards from around the world flooded her mailbox. Cities named libraries and schools for her. Her books won awards, critical praise, and literary honors. In 1949, Almanzo died at the age of 90, leaving her alone at Rocky Ridge.

Laura spent her last years reading, answering letters from fans, and visiting with friends. In the 1950s, she wrote a letter to her readers, explaining, “The Little House books are stories of long ago. Today our way of living and our schools are much different; so many things have made living and learning easier. But the real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures, and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.”

On February 10, 1957, three days after her 90th birthday, Laura Ingalls Wilder died at Rocky Ridge. Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie, and Grace would never be forgotten. . . and the success and popularity of Little House had just begun. Years later, a television series loosely based on her books became one of the most popular family dramas of all time. Through scores of books, television movies, plays, museums, and now, a musical, Laura Ingalls Wilder has arguably become the most beloved figure of America’s pioneering past.

Special Thanks to the Guthrie Theater, for use of their Little House on the Prairie Play Guide in the development of these materials.

 

---

-click section heading again to close this area-

MELISSA GILBERT (Caroline “Ma” Ingalls). Theatre: Off-Broadway: A Shayna Maidel; Los Angeles’ Canon Theater: Love Letters; Chautauqua Theater Company: The Glass Menagerie; Royal Poinciana Playhouse, Palm Beach: The Miracle Worker; University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Bus Stop, Love Letters; Guthrie Theater: Little House on the Prairie. Television: Series lead in “Little House on the Prairie,” more than 40 movies for television including Emmy Award-winning The Miracle Worker, and more than a dozen television series, including “Nip/Tuck,” and “Sweet Justice.” Awards: Outer Critics Circle Award and Theatre World Award for A Shayna Maidal. Professional Affiliations: President, Screen Actors Guild, 2001–05. Currently Sustaining Board Chair and Spokesperson Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition. Ms. Gilbert’s new book Prairie Tale: A Memoir will be published in June by Simon & Schuster.

FRANCESCA ZAMBELLO (Director). Theatre: Broadway: Disney’s The Little Mermaid; London: Royal Albert Hall: Showboat; West End: Napoleon, Lady in the Dark;Raimund Theater, Vienna: a new musical based on Rebecca; Old Globe Theatre, San Diego:First Wives Club; Disneyland: Aladdin; Seattle Children’s Theatre: Tibet Through the Red Box; Bregenzs floating stage: West Side Story; Porgy and Bess (national tour); Skylight Music Theater: artistic director, 198491. Opera: Metropolitan Opera: An American Tragedy (world premiere), Cyrano de Bergerac (with Placido Domingo), Les Troyens; Teatro alla Scala: Cyrano; Royal Albert Hall: La Boheme; The Bolshoi: Fiery Angel, Turandot; Lyric Opera of Chicago: Salome, Tristan and Isolde;Royal Opera House: Carmen, Don Giovanni; Paris Opera: Boris Godunov, War and Peace, Billy Budd, William Tell; Washington National and San Francisco Operas: The Ring; San Francisco Opera: artistic advisor. Film: War and Peace (ORF), Amahl and the Night Visitors (BBC), The Little Prince (BBC/PBS). Awards: Three Olivier Awards; two Evening Standard Awards for best musical and best opera; two French Grand Prix des Critiques; Japanese Golden Prize; Helpmann Award; Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres; Russian Federations medal for Service to Culture; the Palme dOr in Germany; the Golden Mask in Russia. Teaching: Harvard and Berkeley universities: guest professor. Education: Colgate University; Moscow University, www.francescazambello.com

 

 

---

-click section heading again to close this area-

Go to our Facebook Fan Page.

Rules and Conditions:

General Disclaimer: No purchase necessary to enter. To enter the contest, you must be a fan on the DSM Facebook Fanpage. The contest is open to all persons 18 years of age or older with a valid e-mail address and Facebook account. Winner must notify webinfo@dallassummermusicals.org to arrange for a time to come to The Music Hall at Fair Park to redeem their prize no later than May 20, 2010 at 5:00pm CST. Winner assumes all responsibility for any travel or other related costs that may result in winning. Taxes on prize (if applicable) are the sole responsibility of the winner. Employees and contractors (and their families) of DSM or any of its affiliates are not eligible. Void where prohibited by law. All federal, state, and local laws and regulations apply.

Winner Selection: Entrants may participate in as many of the questions as they wish and can post as many answers they want until one person is named as the official winner. However, each entrant who is named a winner may only win once. The first correct answer posted to Dallas Summer Musicals’ Fan Page on Facebook will be determined the winner of (2) tickets to see LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, THE MUSICAL. In the event of a dispute as to who posted an answer first, the judges of the contest will determine who sent the correct answer in chronological order. The Eight (8) winners will be awarded to the persons who get the answer to the trivia question correct in the appropriate time period. All decisions by the judges are final. By participating, persons agree to be bound by the decision of the judges and the official rules.

Winner Notification: Each question’s winner will be announced on the Facebook Fan Page under the post of the corresponding question identified by the winner’s Facebook name. A good faith effort (Direct Message attempt) will be made to notify all prize winners of their winnings.

Winner Responsibilities: All winners will e-mail their contact information to webinfo@dallassummermusicals.org, and will be notified to do so by the Dallas Summer Musicals representative who will post the question and the winner announcement underneath the status post. If the judges are unable to contact the winner directly, then it is the winner’s responsibility to contact the judges via Facebook or e-mail webinfo@dallassummermusicals.org within 24 hours of the announcement. If the prize goes unclaimed, an alternate winner will be selected at the judges’ discretion. By accepting the prize, the winners agree to release and hold harmless, DSM, its sponsors, promotion agencies, and employees from any and all claims arising out of acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the prize received in this contest. DSM is not responsible for late, lost, incomplete, or misdirected entries. Prize is non-transferable. No transfer or substitution of prize, except by DSM due to unavailability of prize at time of award. No cash substitutions or redemptions.

Winner Acceptance and General Conditions: By acceptance of the prize, the winners consent the use of his or her name and/or likeness of purposes of advertising or trade without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

Limitations of Liability: DSM is not responsible for or liable for printing or typographical errors in any contest-related materials; stolen, lost, not legally obtained, late, defaced, misdirected, damaged, altered, incomplete or illegible or postage due entries, nor for any electronic miscommunication or failures, technical hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections or failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmissions which may limit an entrant’s ability to participate in this program. DSM is not responsible for mutilated or lost prize claim notifications electronic, computer network, internet or computer malfunctions, failures, bugs, viruses, non-authorized intervention or similar difficulties, or any condition cause by events beyond the control of CAPA which may cause the contest to be impaired, disrupted or corrupted. 

Conduct: All contest participants agree to be bound by these Official Rules. DSM in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person it finds to be in violation of these rules.

Use of Contest Information: All entries become the property of DSM. DSM reserves the right to use any and all information related to the contest, including submissions provided by the contestants, for editorial, marketing and any other purpose, unless prohibited by law.

Go to our Facebook Fan Page.