This musical, based on the Robert Browning poem, features variations of the songs composed by Al Moritz from an earlier version of the play. Set in the City of Hamlin, "a long time ago", the story concerns Mayor Hoopendorf, who thinks only about food, Fastidia his wife, who thinks only about her wardrobe, and Councilman Cudmumple who values his old books....which he never reads. They refuse to believe that the town is beseiged by rats until the rats invade the Mayor's own house. When a stranger, dressed in pied clothes of a different era, suddenly appears and offers to rid the town of the vermin, the three promise a vast amount in payment if he'll make good his boast. When the Pied Piper "pipes" the rats away, they rethink their offer (which is actually money they never had in the town treasury) and offer a pittance of what they had originally promised. With the same tune the Piper piped to drive the rats away, he lures all the children of the town into the mountains...all but a poor crippled boy. However,this version of the tale adds an extension to the Browning poem. ( I have witnessed the last moments of the play with the audience stopping the show FIVE times to applaud the final outcome). The cast includes the Piper, who speaks in verse, the three corrupt adults, the two Hoopendorf children (other children are taken from volunteers out of the audience) and the crippled servant boy, Hans the orphan. The two sets are the Mayor's house and the Town Square. The period of the sets and costumes is usually set in the time of Rembrant. Songs include "We Are the Rats! Rats! Rats!", "The Song of the Piper", "I Know a Place Not Far Away", "Boys and Girls", and "Let's Celebrate". A simple tune is provided, with piano accompaniment, for the Piper to play on a recorder.
Copyright © 2008 Richard Kinter All rights reserved