Grim Rapunzel brighter at end

The original 19th-century German story of Rapunzel involves imprisonment, an evil witch, criminal activity, seduction, violence, an unexpected pregnancy, attempted suicide, and some aimless wandering in a desert before matters take a turn for the better.

The vaguely medieval-English musical version that opened Friday at the Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre is not much brighter, at least not until its ending. There’s carefree young Rapunzel (played at various ages by Isabella DeCastro, Kadyn White and Lexie Holley) who romps in a lovely garden, playing childlike games with eager-to-please companions Singer (Briana Fleming), Scholar (Mark Hansen), Lover (Geoffrey Eggleston) and Clown (Rebecca Taylor) under the protective eye of tough-loving Mother (Aleigha Morton).

But they’re really not companions; they’re servants, forced into their roles for breaking a rule that leads to a punishing spell. And Rapunzel, who tires of the garden and expresses a wish to see the wider world (like many teenagers, she’s bored), runs into the same formidable force that got those servants into their unenviable fix: The authority figure known to Rapunzel as Mother is actually Gothel the witch.

Displeased with Rapunzel’s desire to get away, Gothel throws a fit and locks the young woman away in a tower, “kept like a bird in a cage,” laments Lover in a sad song full of major-minor key shifts. The only way in — or out — is via Rapunzel’s yardslong braid of hair, which Gothel uses to climb up and berate the poor girl for not loving her mother enough. Eventually, though, Gothel’s not the only one to find her way into Rapunzel’s prison.

The hourlong production, directed by Katie Campbell and adapted by Keith Smith, has some close-to-scary moments, moodily lit against a functional set by M.A. Hare, in between poetic scenes of twirling-scarf choreography performed by dancers in flowing elfin costumes. Shadow puppets, as well as silhouettes, are used to promote a feeling of doom involving the imprisoning tower.

Rapunzel’s fate, along with that of a would-be rescuer, seems hopelessly grim. But, as the servant Singer points out in the first words she eventually utters, “love is stronger than witches.”

Rapunzel continues through May 14 at Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. Tickets or more information are available by calling (501) 372-4000.