This musical romp is a combined telling of THE GOOSE THAT LAID THE GOLDEN EGGS and THE PRINCESS WHO COULDN'T LAUGH. In a cast of two females and four males (with one double role) the story is set in the Kingdom of Transhillaria, in the middle of Somewhere....long ago. The King explains to the audience that his daughter, the Princess Alexia, cannot laugh and asks the audience if they can induce her to laugh by making funny faces. When they cannot, the story switches to the forest cottage of a spinster, Wilda, and her two brothers. Wilda favors the dullard, Hans over the pleasant mannered younger brother, Simon. When the King's Messager arrives at the cottage to inform them that at the Fair, that very afternoon, anyone who can make the Princess laugh will receive the usual "half-my-kingdon" and the obligatory "daughter's-hand-in-marriage", Wilda and her brother, Hans, convinced they have found the easy way to good fortune, depart for the forest to do their chores and meet at the Fair. Simon follows reluctantly being the only one of the three that paid any attention to the part about..."he who fails, forfeits his head". An encounter with the dreaded Old Grey Man of the Forest reveals the shelfishness of both Wilda and Brother Hans but rewards the generous Simon with the means to make the Princess laugh... a Golden Goose. The fun includes dances and songs and a comic climax with most of the cast stuck to the Goose. The play has three locations and a mixture of "royal" and "peasant" costumes to brighten the stage. The song roster includes "The King's Greeting", "I'm On My Way To The Fair", "Riddle-Me-Roo", "The Message of the Messenger", "Free for a Moment", "I'm Stuck To The Goose! (And I Can't Get Loose!!") and "Give Me A Happy Ending!"
Copyright © 2008 Richard Kinter All rights reserved