Sunbonnets were all the rage in the Fox Theatre lobby last night as "Little House on the Prairie" arrived for a five-day run. Fans of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books will be satisfied in the portrayals of the Ingalls family, theater buffs will be a little less satisfied with the transition to live theater.
The evening is pleasant, with excellent work from Steve Blanchard as Pa Ingalls and from Kate Loprest as Nellie Oleson, a comic villain of the very best sort. Her song "Without an Enemy," is the evening's closest thing to a show-stopper. Loprest is over the top all
the time, as Nellie should be, and she brings levity to a book that sometimes seems to revel in a series of sad events and even sadder characters, like Mrs. Brewster, a bitterly unhappy farm wife played powerfully by Meredith Inglesby. She has just a moment to delineate half a lifetime of anger and frustration, and she does it perfectly.
Kevin Massey, as Almanzo Wilder, who courts and wins Laura, also stands out as a singer and dancer, which points up one of the show's problems. Touring companies for large shows are expensive, so there is a lot of doubling up by characters who have real parts also taking a turn in the chorus. This adds skill and saves money, but it's awkward when Massey, or Inglesby, or Loprest show up as people who are easily recognizable as their primary characters, who would not be part of the chorus.
Kara Lindsay does fine work as Laura, her tomboyish character shown strongly in her interaction with Pa. Her singing occasionally turned shrill, but that may be caused by the Fox sound system. Melissa Gilbert, long the Laura of the television series, has grown nicely into the part of Ma, who obviously understands her daughter to perfection. Alessa Neeck is fine as Mary Ingalls, though the character is more a plot device than anything else.
Rachel Sheinkin wrote the book, Rachel Portman, influenced by "Paint Your Wagon," composed the music and Donna DiNovelli wrote the lyrics. Adrianne Lobel's minimalist set works satisfactorily and Michele Lynch's choreography, with overtones of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," also paid tribute to Lou Brock and other legendary base-stealers.
At the Fox Theatre, through Sunday
–Joe
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For what it’s worth, the Fox’s house sound system is rarely used for any traveling show. This show, like many others brought their own sound, and like many others, it was insufficient for a room the size of the Fox.