Given the Broadway stagehands strike, I thought I wouldn't be doing much theater blogging this week. But, of course, theater is not all about Broadway. And Siege amply reminded of that when she made my day by passing along an exciting bit of musical theater news: The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis will be producing the world premiere of Little House on the Prairie, a musical based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. The show is scheduled to open during the summer of 2008.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this project. For one thing, the creative team seems pretty amazing. It includes a Tony Award–winning writer (Rachel Sheinkin), an Academy Award–winning composer (Rachel Portman) and a director (Francesca Zambello) who has helmed productions at the Metropolitan Opera and the London Opera, among other places.

Rounding out the creative team is lyricist Donna DiNovelli. Lots of girl power on this production.

Additionally, Little House on the Prairie is a good story: there's frontier adventure, family drama and romance. And probably bear attacks and things. It's also fitting that this Midwestern story is being developed in the Midwest. The combination of a familiar story and regional interest will likely draw people who might not otherwise be attracted to musical theater. I like that. Ideally, if it's successful, the show will move beyond Minneapolis.

It seems that the origins of the show may be in New York. Portman, Zambello and DiNovelli were involved with a production of Prairie that was workshopped in New York last spring. I'm not certain to what extent the Guthrie production is based on that original workshop. However, the New York connections may help bring this show to New York or to a broader touring audience.

My excitement about the show is tinged with caution, however, because the last show I saw based on a 19th-century novel about women, Little Women, was utter dreck. Even Sutton Foster couldn't save it.

Ideally, this will be better.

What we don't know, of course, is the specifics of the story. The versions I'm considering in my head are based on the TV show rather than the books because I have fonder memories of the TV show than I do of the books.

It's a safe bet that there will be a lot of Laura in the story.

And I always had kind of a crush on Caroline “Ma” Ingalls,(Karen Grassle), so I'm interested to see how they'll cast her.

And there has to be a fair amount of Nellie Oleson (Alison Arngrim) for conflict and pathos.

(I have to say, I liked it when Nellie fell in love with Percival and became nice. You can watch a clip here.)

I suspect that some of the high drama moments I remember and love from the show and the subsequent TV movies — when Albert wanted to marry the girl who was pregnant as a result of rape; when Mary lost her baby in the fire; when they blew up the town — won't make it into the musical.

Here's a clip of a heart-wrenching post-fire scene:

Albert was so sad and guilty.

Regardless, the story opportunities are broad. I suspect Laura Ingalls Wilder herself would approve.