Young actors put fresh spin on The Little Prince
Youth troupe puts fresh spin on The Little Prince
This is the fourth time in two decades that Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre presents The Little Prince, but writer and director Rob Ursan says he has no trouble keeping the show fresh.
“Every time a new young person comes into these parts, it feels like it’s a brand new experience, not just for them but for the show itself,” says Ursan.
“I mean, there have been how many millions of productions of Oklahoma! through the years worldwide, and it still gets performed. Some stories just click with people.”
The Little Prince, which was the fourth show Ursan ever wrote for DIWC, is based on Antoine de Saint-exupery’s 1943 children’s book.
The appeal for Ursan — aside from it being “a beautiful story” — was the sheer number of characters in the tale.
“(That’s) great for our purposes, because it then turns into something
where I can use lots and lots of kids,” says Ursan.
The show will feature “lots and lots of songs, lots of group numbers,” and an impressive set by Julio Salazar, as the theatre company is going all out to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
In the musical, which is true to the book, the titular “Little Prince” (played by Javier TonitaCharriez) meets a pilot (Declan Hewitt) who has crash-landed in the Sahara Desert. The prince tells the story of his life, from his home planet to present day, while the pilot attempts to fix his plane. Through this exchange, there are realizations about love and humanity.
“It’s an extraordinary story of how a child learns about taking care of things and how things become important to them,” said Ursan.
While 22 of the show’s cast members range in age from 10 to 13, Hewitt is the lone 17-year-old.
That’s because his part is “an awful lot to memorize,” said Ursan — the pilot also narrates the story.