A Penny Friend

A Penny Friend

A Penny Friend

Music by Shirley Hansen
Lyrics by Ed Graczyk
Story by Ed Graczyk, dramatized with Mary Lou Cassidy

A Penny Friend

A Penny Friend

Music by Shirley Hansen
Lyrics by Ed Graczyk
Story by Ed Graczyk, dramatized with Mary Lou Cassidy

Overview

The story of a straw girl in search of adventure, A Penny Friend has appeal for children and adults. The mood of the show is reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, a gentle blend of happy and sad, fun and suspense, significance and froth. It is a musical adventure for every audience.

A gameboard is the setting of this original musical for young people, a gameboard where the Game of Adventure is played. But no one has found any adventure in the game in ten years. There have been so many new rules added that the players are able to move only as far as Square Five, far short of the adventures that await at the end of the game. The board and those who live on it are dull, colorless, and without hope, exactly the way that Minerva, the creator of the rules, wants it. No one even dreams anymore... no one, that is, except a Straw Girl, a scarecrow staked up to scare crows away from the unused sections of the gameboard. The Straw Girl dreams of becoming somebody, and her dream is so strong that she retires as a scarecrow and seeks a new life on the Adventure Gameboard. The rules stop the Straw Girl at Square Five, just as they have stopped every other adventurer before her, but they do not stop her dream. The Straw Girl refuses to accept a life without adventure, and therein lies our story...

NOTICE: Please be advised, this title is from the Samuel French Vault and is made from a scan of an archived manuscript.

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Details

  • Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Theatre for Young Audiences
  • Time Period: Not Applicable
  • Cast Attributes: Ensemble cast, Roles for Teens, Multicultural casting, Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle)
  • Target Audience: Adult, Children (Age 6 - 10), Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Authors

Ed Graczyk

Ed Graczyk is probably best known as the author of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. The play was produced on Broadway in 1982, directed by Robert Altman with a cast that included Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black and Kathy Bates. It has been translated into ei ...

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Author

Shirley Hansen

Author

Mary Lou Cassidy

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