The contest is on for which princess will win the hand of the handsome prince in “The Princess and the Pea,” this fun-filled, little-kid version of “The Bachelor.”
And unlike the reality television show, Storybook Theater’s “The Princess and the Pea” has bouncy music, hilarious high jinks and endearing actors whom audiences have come to enjoy over the years, Storybook’s artistic director, Lani Brockman, said.
In fact, the king in this production — the adults will enjoy this — is like Sean Connery and Richard Harris combined in one actor, Brockman said.
“We’re getting a great response from the adults,” Brockman said.
And what’s in it for the kids, you ask?
Besides the lively music and the comedy, “The Princess and the Pea” deals with the life-shaping lesson of beauty being more than skin deep and the kind of qualities all of us, princesses included, should strive to display in our lives, such as kindness and courage.
And the kids get to find out if the prince gets to pick the princess he really likes.
There’s also fun with allegory as the princesses take on the personas of their names: Princess Pretty; Princess Gorgeous; Princess Picture Perfect; Princess Big Brain; Princess Shy; and Princess Rover, because she travels a lot.
For the boys in the audience, Brockman said they will enjoy watching the prince, who is a tall, strapping guy whose favorite phrase is: “I don’t want to.”
“And he’s not stupid and there is nothing condescending about him,” Brockman said. “He meets all these women and realizes how inadequate they are.”
Brockman also said Storybook Theater is making the prince’s age close to 30, as opposed to 16, the age you were supposed to be married in fairy tales.
Brockman mentioned the duet the king sings with the prince, a song about what a prince should do and what a king should be like, describing it as “a scene out of Camelot.”
“The Princess and the Pea” will be presented at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Snohomish County Public Utility District Auditorium, 2320 California St., Everett.
Tickets are $9. Call 877-827-1100 or go to www.storybooktheater.org.
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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