The Texas Music Theater. PHOTO by DON ANDERS

A new version of A Little Princess produced by Texas State University’s Musical Theatre program will premiere in downtown San Marcos in October.

The show will be Oct. 16-19 at the Texas Music Theater at 7:30 p.m. and feature a 20-piece orchestra. The final performance on Oct. 19 will be live-streamed on the web for audiences nationwide.

The four-night show will provide its authors the opportunity to finalize the script, score and orchestrations.

Brian Crawley wrote the lyrics, Kaitlin Hopkins will serve as director, and Andrew Lippa composed the music and will serve as conductor. Hopkins, who has many Broadway acting credits to her name, will also perform the role of Miss Minchin, and her husband, faculty member and Broadway actor Jim Price, will perform the role of Captain Crewe. The rest of the roles will be played by Texas State theatre students, whose work can be seen here. Names of the cast and crew can be found here.

The show will feature new material added since the musical’s world premiere production at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2004. To hear song previews, click here.

For ticket information, click here, and for information about purchasing tickets for the live-steaming event, click here.

“I think one of the most exciting things for the students, other than the time they get to spend with Andrew and Brian in the rehearsal room, is that Andrew is also conducting the performances,” Hopkins said. “It’s a wonderful professional credit and rare educational experience for the students—and to be conducted by the composer and be part of the development of this show, well, that’s the icing on the cake.”

Lippa was commissioned to score A Little Princess with funds from the university’s Harrison New Musical Commission. Proceeds from the show will benefit future Harrison New Musical commissions.

Crawley wrote the book and lyrics for Violet, which won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical as well as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. Crawley won the prestigious Kleban Award for the libretto of Violet.

A Little Princess is based on the 1905 children’s novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. There have been several film versions of Burnett’s novel over the years, including a 1917 version starring Mary Pickford as Sara, a 1939 version with Shirley Temple, and a 1995 version directed by Alfonso Cuaron. The show has generated significant interest in the stock and amateur market, particularly in schools, which often study the novel.

According to the university officials, the live stream broadcast of A Little Princess will be sponsored by Michael and Bowman of Hunt and Hunt Ltd. in Houston.

For more information on the musical theatre program at Texas State visit its website.