The girls and I got to see Little House on the Prairie, the Musical in Sioux Falls this weekend, thanks to the public relations folks at Mammoth Advertising. In return for the tickets, I agreed to review the play on my blog, but no other compensation beyond the free tickets has been given for this review.
First of all, I have to emphasize how excited the girls were about seeing this play. They have both long been Little House fans, as have I, but even more so because it was their Grandma Carmen’s favorite show. Not only that, but we knew that Melissa Gilbert, the actress who played Laura on the TV series, was going to be in this musical as “Ma,” an event tantamount to being in the same room with Taylor Swift or The Jonas Brothers.
We got great seats, in the front row of the balcony. We couldn’t see anyone’s faces very clearly, but we were pleased with our view. The sound was great, the transitioning between scenes was creative and seamless and the background scenes were gorgeous. I was impressed with the quality of the acting and singing as well.
A few notes: I found the feminist themes running through the story line to be a little off-putting, mainly because I don’t think the real Laura was a feminist (though her daughter, Rose, certainly was). One of the very last lines of the show is when Almanzo proposes to Laura and she says something along the lines of, “Yes. But I can’t say the word ‘obey’ to you.” I’m not super-familiar with Little House trivia, but I am familiar with the social climate of the time and I very highly doubt the real Laura would have said that. I’m all for giving our daughters positive messages about what they can do, but I’m also a history fanatic and so I don’t like it when modern themes, ideas and political correctness creep into historical contexts.
This show is a musical, so there is a lot of singing. As much as I love her, Melissa Gilbert is not a singer. That said, she’s Melissa Gilbert. I think she’s a fabulous actress and so I didn’t really care that she didn’t sing as well as anyone else in the show. It was fun just to see her live and in person.
The actress who plays Laura, Kara Lindsay, was absolutely fantastic. She was convincing as both a young girl and a young woman and really held up the entire show. I found myself getting teary during the song she sang with Mary, just after Mary went blind, about how she would be Mary’s eyes.
All in all, it was a very entertaining production with a professional set-up, talented actors and actresses and a very relatable theme. I would highly recommend this show for families, and especially for Little House fans. Andrea and Rachel thought it was the best thing they’d ever seen and raved about it all night. Since Andie is so into music, I pointed out the instruments in the box and explained that she can do the same thing if she wants someday. She found that quite intriguing. For imaginative and artsy girls like mine, this play was quite inspirational.
You can check to see if there’s a show coming to a city near you on the website.
CORRECTION: A reader much more knowledgeable than I pointed out that Laura does, indeed, say in the book These Happy Golden Years, that she can’t say “obey” in her wedding vows. See the comments below for more details, so I guess my complaint about that not being historically accurate is invalid. Go, Laura!
Without having a quote to give you, I believe that Laura actually did record saying something about not obeying when Almanzo proposed – it’s in “The First Four Years.”
Glad you enjoyed it! We’ll hope to see it sometime.
Really? Oh dear, I must have missed that. I had a feeling I should have looked that up, just in case, before I said anything. Apparently my Little House knowledge is not as good as I thought it was!
Okay, you got me curious! I had to go find the quote. Here it is, from “These Happy Golden Years” pp. 269-270:
“Laura was silent again. Then she summoned all her courage and said, ‘Almanzo, I must ask you something. Do you want me to promise to obey you?’
Soberly he answered, ‘Of course not. I know it is in the wedding ceremony, but it is only something that women say. I never knew one that did it, nor any decent man that wanted her to.’
‘Well, I am not going to say I will obey you,’ said Laura.
‘Are you for women’s rights, like Eliza?’ Almanzo asked in surprise.
‘No,’ Laura replied, ‘I do not want to vote. But I can not make a promise that I will not keep, and, Almanzo, even if I tried, I do not think I could obey anybody against my better judgment.’
‘I’d never expect you to,’ he told her. ‘And there will be no difficulty about the ceremony, because Reverend Brown does not believe in using the word “obey.”
‘He doesn’t! Are you sure?’ Laura had never been so surprised and so relieved, all at once.”
Thanks so much for this, Diana! Next time I guess I’ll do my research a bit better. Sigh. I’m adding a correction to my post now…
No problem! Sorry to cause all the complications for you. Enjoying the blog!
Go, Laura! I did not say “obey” in my wedding vows, and was quite aware of that fact ahead of time. David didn’t say “obey” either.
)
I saw the show in another city. It was a huge thrill to see Melissa Gilbert on stage, having been a great fan of the show growing up. My daughter (and partially my son) had listened to me reading them the books at bedtime, and my daughter was thrilled with the show. Personally I didn’t love it, though I can’t pinpoint the reason why.
I think I would have enjoyed it just because I’m a fan. Oddly enough, I never got my daughter to read these books…hmm. How did THAT happen? She’s missing out!