THE WRITERS
Music by Eric Rockwell
Lyrics by Margaret Rose
Book by William J. Brooke
Why “A Little Princess”?
We chose “A Little Princess” as the source material for our musical because we love the imagination and optimism which kept Sara going during hard times. We all struggle with loss, with facing tough choices, and with life handing us hardships. But there are stories which show us how the best among us pull themselves through the hardships and up into the light. Through their actions, these characters change their world. …and maybe by telling their stories, we can change ours.
Just two years after the world premiere of A Little Princess, Bill passed away from complications of Parkinson’s Disease. His spirit lives on in the words of Ram Dass putting ripples out into the world. He’s there in the strength of Carrisford’s commitment to love completely. And he’s there in the heart of a little girl who goes through the hard reality of loss and emerges from her struggles with a stronger conviction of generosity and an imagination to share with all who will listen.
Eric Rockwell (Music) is an award-winning composer of several critically-acclaimed musicals produced Off Broadway, regionally, and internationally. A 2004 Drama Desk nominee for Best Music, Eric composed the score and co-wrote the book to The Musical of Musicals (the Musical!) which, after two years of performances in New York, went on to success on London's West End. Eric composed the scores to Golly Gee Whiz and Up To You, both of which were honored with a National Youth Theatre award for Outstanding Original Musical. Other scores created for young audiences at TADA! in New York City include The Trials of Alice in Wonderland, The History Mystery, and Princess Phooey. An alumnus of the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, Eric wrote the music for Meet Your Mountain, the Rockwell & Rose musical based on the story of the Donner Party. www.Eric-Rockwell.com
Margaret Rose (Lyrics) is an alumna of the BMI/Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop., where she and Eric developed their score for A Little Princess, and began their work on Meet Your Mountain. Her lyrics have been heard in several TADA! shows (The History Mystery, Everything About Camp, and more), and have been performed at the White House. Also a director, Margaret directed New York City productions of Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Most Happy Fella, The Music Man, The Apple Tree, and more. With Eric, Margaret wrote and directed The Prop Shop for TADA! Youth Theater in NYC, several musical revues for the Timbers Dinner Theater in Pennsylvania, and the Off-Off Broadway comic delight, Don't Touch That Dial (MAC Award Nominee). Margaret is a member of the Dramatists Guild, and writes a blog about musical theater (writing it, directing it, and loving it) at bymargaretrose.com.
William J. Brooke (Book) wrote The Roswell Follies, The Lost Wallet, and I'll Die If I Can't Live Forever (Off-Broadway, published by Samuel French). As an author, Bill's work includes A Is For Aarrgh!, A Telling of theTales, Untold Tales, Teller of Tales, and A Brush With Magic. With a B.A. in English Literature from The College of William and Mary, and an M.A. in Playwriting from UNC at Chapel Hill, Bill first collaborated with Rockwell and Rose on the Village Light Opera Group's Celebrate The Sulliberts. He wrote the libretto for The Trials of Alice in Wonderland at the TADA! Theatre and his work with Rockwell and Rose on A Little Princess was seen at the Stages Festival of New Musicals in Chicago.
Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924) was born the daughter of an English ironmonger who died when she was just three years old, plunging her family into poverty. When she was a teenager, her family moved to Tennessee to live with relatives. In America, she began to write to help supplement the family’s income, and eventually became most famous for her children’s books, such as The Secret Garden and Little Lord Fauntleroy. A Little Princess was first published as a serialized novella, then Ms. Burnett adapted it as a stage play, and at the request of her publisher, adapted it to a full novel, published in 1905. The story has been read and loved by generations, and has been adapted many times for film, television, audiobook, ballet, plays, and at least eight different stage musicals!