Musical digs to the root of a problem; Matchbox Children’s Theatre presents a play about a troubled princess
Published 8:56 am Thursday, August 17, 2017
- Marlea Emberlson (princess) and Reed Schwanke (king) try to figure out how to get a husband for her in the Matchbox Children’s Theatre production of “No One Will Marry a Princess With a Tree Growing Out of Her Head.” Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
The Matchbox Children’s Theatre will perform “No One Will Marry a Princess With a Tree Growing Out of Her Head” this weekend at the Historic Paramount Theatre.
The performance is the culmination of Matchbox’s Theatre Camp held in July.
“Our play reading committee read this show several years ago and we really liked it, but we were unsure we would be able to do the show with the technical element of the tree growing on the princess’ head,” said co-director Angela Donovan. “We finally decided to have one of our costume designers read the script and see if this could be something she could tackle. She said she could and we said, ‘Let’s do it.’
Megan Dilley-Jones, playing the part of the narrator, opens up “No One Will Marry a Princess With a Tree Growing Out of Her Head,” during rehearsal Tuesday night.
“It is such a fun script.”
The story is about a princess who on her 21st birthday is waiting for the princes east of the sun and west of the moon to see which one will choose her hand in marriage.
However, Wartsitch the Wicked and Nasty placed a curse on her at birth that causes a tree to start growing out of her head. If she does not remove the tree in three days time, she will turn into a tree forever.
Enlisting the help of Gimlet the Good and the Kind, the princess travels to the exact spot where East meets West and North meets South to try to break the curse.
Julia Zerke, playing the part of the Chancellor goes after the princess played by Marlea Emberlson and the tree growing out of her head during rehearsal for “No One Will Marry a Princess With a Tree Growing Out of Her Head.”.
Donovan says the show is appropriate for all ages.
“It is a very fun show,” she said. “It is a musical with lots of fun music for the kids to enjoy and it’s a fast show.”
Along with Donovan, the show is co-directed by Billie Jo Wicks. Kim Zerke is the show’s musical director.
Donovan was praiseworthy of the cast.
“The kids have been working so hard,” she said. “This is the end of what they started working on a little over a month ago when they did theatre camp and this is the final process. All the kids in the show, except one, were part of the camp. This is the first year where we have had pretty much camp kids in it, without taking a lot from the outside at our auditions. They are a young cast, ages 8-13, but they are a very hard-working, talented cast.”
Performances will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 18, and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 19-20.
All performances will be held at the Historic Paramount Theatre.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for ages 14 and younger.
For more information, visit www.matchboxchildrenstheatre.org/ or call 507-437-9078.
Marlea Emberlson (princess) and Reed Schwanke (king) try to figure out how to get a husband for her in the Matchbox Children’s Theatre production of “No One Will Marry a Princess With a Tree Growing Out of Her Head.”
