Show History

History

Inspiration

A Little Princess, with book and lyrics by Brian Crawley and music by Andrew Lippa, is based on Francis Hodgson Burnett's early twenty-first-century children's novel of the same name. The story has been adapted into several different works, most famously as a Shirley Temple film in 1936. In creating the musical, Crawley and Lippa made several changes to the original plot. The alterations range from making Sara older to changing Sara's first home from India to Timbuktu, giving them a chance to incorporate more African-American roles into the show.

Productions

A Little Princess premiered at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in Mountain View, California, on August 28, 2004. Produced by TheatreWorks, it starred Mackenzie Mauzy and Will Chase. The production aimed to have a Broadway premiere, when Dodger Theatricals, responsible for producing The Secret Garden, came on board; but the creators were ultimately left hanging. In September 2005, the musical was featured in the Festival of New Musicals, an event in New York City sponsored by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre that nurtures the development and production of new musicals.

Shortly after releasing the world-premiere studio recording of the musical, a new version premiered at Texas State University. Conducted by composer, Andrew Lippa, and functioning in a concert staging, it gave the creators the opportunity to finalize the script, score and orchestrations, in addition to creating new material. The production ran from October 16-19, 2011. Since then, it has had its Boston premiere with the Fiddlehead Theatre on November 21, 2013.

Trivia

• Celebrities that have starred in A Little Princess, including its world premiere recording, include: Sierra Boggess, Julia Murney, Laura Benanti, Titus Burgess, Remy Zaken and Jesse Nager.