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EN ROUTE AFTERBEFORE BEYOND

INSIDE

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This section is part of a full New Victory® School toolTM Resource Guide. For the complete guide, including information about the New Victory Education

Department check out: NEWVICTORY.ORG/SCHOOLTOOLS

THE LIGHT PRINCESS

COMMON CORE STANDARDS

Speaking and Listening: 1; 2; 3; 6Language: 1; 4

NEW YORK STATE STANDARDS

The Arts: 4ELA: 1; 4

BLUEPRINT FOR THE ARTS

Theater: Developing Theater Literacy; Making Connections

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INSIDEBEFORE EN ROUTE AFTER

CLOSER LOOK AT THE LIGHT PRINCESS

• THE LIGHT PRINCESS was adapted from George MacDonald's 1864 Scottish fairy tale of the same name. To bring it to the stage, Mike Pettry created the show’s music and lyrics, and Lila Rose Kaplan wrote the script.

• THE LIGHT PRINCESS is performed by graduate students from American Repertory Theater (A.R.T. Institute) at Harvard, who bring touches of whimsy to this non-traditional fairy tale. The A.R.T. recently won two Tony Awards―Best Revival of a Musical for Pippin in 2013 and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess in 2012.

• The design team and choreographers worked together to create the illusion that the princess is suspended in mid-air throughout the play. Through basic acrobatics and ensemble work, THE LIGHT PRINCESS looks as though she never touches the ground!

Can a girl who can't fall at all, fall in love? Two witty wisemen sing a story of a young princess cursed by a wicked witch to float through life indefinitely. Twirling above the stage, through the kingdom and into a magical forest, she must find a way to come back to earth by her sixteenth birthday or be doomed to defy gravity forever! Directed by Allegra Libonati, THE LIGHT PRINCESS, from the acclaimed American Repertory Theater (Artistic Director, Diane Paulus), showcases the brightest talents of Harvard's graduate acting program. Funny, romantic and cleverly choreographed to delightfully upbeat original songs, this whimsical new musical will have you giggling your way to cloud nine.

BEYOND

[ ]A Floating Fairy Tale + Musical Theater =

THE LIGHT PRINCESS

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

• Cambridge, Massachusetts, is home to Harvard University, where THE LIGHT PRINCESS was created. It is the largest employer in Cambridge, with 11,298 employees - that many people would fill The New Victory Theater 22 times over!

• In order to get from New York to Cambridge, you’d have to float 235 miles, over four states!

THE LIGHT PRINCESS

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE LIGHT PRINCESS FROM?

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NORTHAMERICA

SOUTHAMERICA

ATLANTICOCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

X

X

MASSACHUSETTS

CAMBRIDGE

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INSIDEBEFORE EN ROUTE AFTER BEYOND

THE LIGHT PRINCESS

Prior to exploring THE LIGHT PRINCESS with your students, find out how much they already know about fairy tales and musical theater. In addition, allow them to explore the theme of problem solving.

What is your favorite fairy tale? Who is the main character in the fairy tale? What does he or she want? How do you think THE LIGHT PRINCESS will be similar to this fairy tale? How do you think it will be different?

Have you ever seen a musical theater production before? What was it about? What kind of music did you hear? How did the music help tell the story?

Have you ever faced a problem that seemed impossible? How did you solve it? Did you ask someone for help? If so, who did you ask?

THE LIGHT PRINCESS contains a lot of magic, including a girl who has no gravity. How do you think the artists will create this magic onstage?

WHAT DO YOUR STUDENTS KNOW NOW?

ALTERNATIVE FAIRY TALESSince their inception, fairy tales have been changed, retold and re-interpreted. Even the Brothers Grimm, who wrote famous tales such as Cinderella and Rumplestiltskin, altered their stories from the original folk tales. Each adaptation changes something about the stories. Disney’s Cinderella, for example, is much less violent than the Grimm version. Alternative fairy tales challenge the traditional structure of these tales in a variety of ways—by telling the story from the perspective of the villain (such as in The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith or Wicked by Gregory Maguire) to reconceiving the story’s central conflict (such as in Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine).

MUSICAL THEATERMusical theater combines dialogue, acting, dance and musical performance as a way to tell stories. Characters provide exposition to the audience, explain their feelings and speak to one another through music. Musicals sometimes feature narrators or other characters who break the fourth wall to explain the story to the audience, such as the Wisemen do in THE LIGHT PRINCESS. Due to the high volume of musicals produced during the 1940s to 1960s that are now considered classics, this period is sometimes referred to as the “Golden Age of Musical Theater.”

INSIDE THE ART FORM

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