By Randi Bjornstad
It’s still the story of Snow White — at least that’s the name of the main character — but instead of a fairy tale in a land far, far away, this original musical by Scott Frazier-Maskiell, founder of a youth theater group called Pegasus Playhouse, is set more loosely in the style of a famous Depression-era show, Gold Diggers of 1933.
So there’s no real royalty involved, although it does have characters with the last names of King and Prince. And there aren’t any officially Little Persons, but the musical’s narrators are a benevolent group that calls themselves the Dwarf Gang.
This musical is called Snow White in Lights, and this is its world premiere.
After little Snow’s mother dies, the child grows up in the theater scene in New York City and is obviously headed for stardom. A musical theater producer named King wants to cast her in the lead role of a show, but the evil “stepmonster,” as Frazier-Maskiell calls Mina, has designs of her own on King and works her wiles to try to get him to give her the lead, instead of Snow.
When Snow finds out that Mina has plans to send her to boarding school in Connecticut, she runs away, meets the dwarfs, and like the Snow White of the fairy tale, begins to hang out with them. It’s then that she hears someone playing wonderful music, and she meets songwriter Alison “Al” Prince, who teaches her how to become a fellow songwriter and, as the author/composer puts it, “fall in like,” becoming best friends.
About that time, Snow, Al, and the dwarfs find out about a new show at Mina’s Palace — Mina has taken over King’s production biz — and they go there, curious to see what’s happening. Mina gives Snow a poisoned drink, but Al obviously knows the original story, gives her a kiss, and Snow wakes up.
Frazier-Maskiell has written 11 original songs for Snow White in Lights.
“I started writing in the fall, and I finished about a month and a half before rehearsals started,” he said. “This show has a cast of 13, although I have done shows with as many as 28.”
He tailors his show to the cast and his cast to the show.
“Every cast member has strengths as well as challenges,” Frazier-Maskiell said. “I can literally write a role that challenges them, but I also need to find out how far they can go, and if it’s too far, we change it so they are comfortable.”
In the end, he said, “this is theater, and these are kids — I want them all to feel good at the end of the day. Some are ready to jump into anything, but with others we lean away if we need to.”
He doesn’t expect everything to be perfect, and that’s fine.
“In this show, we have three kids who are doing theater for the first time ever — I just hope they enter the stage at the right time.”
If they don’t? “I love them all, no matter what,” he said.
Frazier-Maskiell’s foray into youthful theater began in his own early years, growing up on Long Island in New York City and experiencing theater there, both watching and acting.
He had his own onstage experience, touring with regional theater companies, along the way earning teaching credentials and heading his own classes. He also took up songwriting and spent some time living in Nashville, Tenn.
He and his wife have three children, and when they moved to Oregon he became a full-time stay-at-home dad, plus finding time to work with a couple of local studios that catered to young people’s theater productions.
Four years ago, he decided it was time to see if he could make a go on his own, and the result is Pegasus Playhouse. After putting on productions in the Ragozzino Theater at Lane Community College, as well as Wildish Theater in downtown Springfield and in the Market Alley at downtown Eugene’s 5th Street Public Market, Pegasus Playhouse now has its own rental space at 402 Main St. in downtown Springfield.
And that’s where Frazier-Maskiell and his troupe will be onstage for two weekends, putting their own stamp on the story of Snow White.
After that, there will be a main stage production of The Fantasticks May 12-28.
This summer, Pegasus Playhouse also will run several summer theater camps for various ages:
- Hamilton Summer Camp for ages 13-18 years from June 19-23
- Wicked Theater Camp for ages 8-12 years from June 26-30.
- Broadway Jr. Theater Camp for ages 6-12 years from July 31-Aug. 4.
There also will be a Monty Python’s Spamalot Theater Camp for ages 13-18 years, July 3-23, in cooperation with Lane Community College’s Student Production Association.
Snow White in Lights at Pegasus Playhouse
When: 7 p.m. on March 10-12 and 17-18, 2023
Where: Pegasus Playhouse, 402 Main St., downtown Springfield
Tickets and information: $15, available at 541-515-6569 or online at pegasusplayhouse.com
Pegasus Playhouse founder Scott Frazier-Maskiell has a whole slate of theater productions in the works for his youthful actors; photo courtesy of Pegasus Playhouse.
