On February 27, The Light Princess will open at the New Victory Theater. Based on the Scottish fairy tale by George MacDonald, the musical tells the story of a princess cursed by an evil witch to float forever. She must find a way to come back to earth by her sixteenth birthday, or be forced to defy gravity for the rest of her life.
We sat down with Lila Rose Kaplan and Mike Pettry, the writing duo behind this adaptation by the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard University, to learn more about what makes this fairy tale a unique happily-ever-after.
What about the story of The Light Princess made you want to adapt it into a musical for young people?
Lila Rose grew up knowing George MacDonald’s story of The Light Princess, so it was a natural choice when we decided to write a musical together. The story had a great balance of magic, humor, and heart that spoke to both of us. We loved the cleverness of George MacDonald’s language, and we knew we wanted to write a musical that had the same tone. The Light Princess speaks to young people because at some point growing up, we all feel that we don’t fit in, or that other people don’t understand us, and we get to see the Princess deal with these problems in a real (and sometimes funny) way. While we strived to aim the story at children, it was important to us to write something that would appeal to the adults as well, who can empathize with the King and Queen as well as the Princess.
How is this story different from your typical fairy tale?
Although the Princess does meet a Prince and fall in love, both of them have to make hard sacrifices to make that love work. We also wanted the Princess to be an active character and never feel like a “damsel in distress.” And — no spoilers — there’s a chance that the Princess *might* have to rescue the Prince in this story, rather than the other way around.
What do you hope young audiences take away from the show?
We wanted to create a show that was appealing to all ages, so we hope children will be able to connect with their parents by seeing something they all can enjoy. We also hope audiences are able to connect with the characters and learn that it’s okay to be different, and that everybody feels like an outsider sometimes.
What are your favorite parts or elements of the show?
We love the song “Marco Polo,” as it’s where the Prince and Princess ultimately fall for each other by playing a game. We also love whenever the Witch is on stage — despite being kind of mean, she is hilarious, and her song “Under My New Spell” brings the house down. Some other things we love about The Light Princess are the things we didn’t write — the work done by the actors, musicians, designers (sets, lights, sound, dance, costumes) elevated it to a whole new level. Especially the work by our fearless director Allegra Libonati, who came up with the “Gravitrons” — the actors who act as the Witch’s minions and literally carry the Princess around in order to make her fly. The Gravitrons weren’t part of the initial script we wrote, but now it’s hard to imagine The Light Princess without them!
Can you tell us a little bit about The Pirate Princess, the new show you’re developing?
We’re very excited about The Pirate Princess! Basically it’s Twelfth Night with pirates. A brother and sister get separated at sea, and the sister disguises herself as a pirate (and a boy) so she can find her brother and make her way back home. We’ve always loved Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, and loved the possibilities in adapting it. It will have something for everybody – Pirates, Princesses, swashbuckling, swarthy sea shanties, heart, hilarity, and a happy ending. Oh, and a soft-shoe dancing sea monster.
Anything else you’d like to tell our readers about The Light Princess?
We hope you love it as much as we do!
“The Light Princess” runs at The New Victory Theater through March 8. For more showtimes and tickets, visit newvictory.org.
