Palmer playwright debuts newest adaptation

PALMER — If Grant Olson told you that in his newest musical you would see something you’d never seen before, he wouldn’t be exaggerating — and might not even be bragging.

Still, you might very well be acquainted with the plot. “Mansfield Park, the Musical” is an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel. But Olson said he can’t find any record of another stage adaptation of this particular Austen novel, and certainly not as a musical.

He said he hopes the production will have a broad appeal.

“I think the music is lovely, my actors are just terrific and it’s a wonderful little love story, especially right after Valentine’s Day,” he said. “Those people who love Jane Austen or want to fall in love with Jane Austen, this a good vehicle with which to do it.”

The story surrounds Fanny Price, who has been sent to live with her aunt and uncle because her parents can no longer afford her. Fanny quickly falls in love with her cousin Edmund, a plot point that audiences with modern sensibilities might find slightly jarring.

“That’s in the days when falling in love with your cousin was OK,” Olson said.

The situation gets more complicated when the Crawfords arrive. Henry Crawford falls for Fanny and his sister, Mary Crawford, falls for Edmund. It’s a love triangle with an extra player.

“We kind of laughingly say this is a love square,” Olson said.

In a note posted to the production’s website, mansfieldparkmusical.com, Olson writes that his wife turned him on to Austen. He’s watched the movie versions of all six of Austen’s works, but only read two of her novels — “Mansfield Park” and “Pride and Prejudice.”

“If any of the other movies had seemed adaptable, I might have read them, too,” he writes.

The thing about Mansfield Park, he writes, is that it only takes place in two locations. So, among Austen’s works, it is probably the most capable of being adapted for the stage.

So in 2008 he started writing the play. Writing is not anything new to Olson. An English teacher at Palmer Junior Middle School, his bachelor’s and master’s degrees are in drama and he’s written 10 plays. And this isn’t his first musical either; it’s his fourth.

“I would like to think that I’ve gotten considerably more sophisticated,” he said.

As his script neared completion, Olson said he went looking for someone to write the music, finally settling on his friend Blaine Lee, who teaches at Colony High School. He said he is very satisfied with the work Lee has done.

Having brought Lee on board, Olson said he went looking for a venue. The University of Alaska Anchorage had already picked “Singin‘ in the Rain” for its fall performance. Valley Performing Arts didn’t have the kind of stage he needed.

“It’s a two-story set,” Olson said. “People are up and people are down and people are in front.”

So the play landed at Colony, where it has become a school production. The cast, musicians and crew are all students. They’ve done a terrific job, Olson said, though he admits he did worry at times that high school actors might not be able to handle what he considers to be a relatively sophisticated play. Lee, by contrast, was confident throughout.

“There was a couple of times when we said, ‘are you sure you can do this?’ and he said, ‘we can do it,’” Olson said.

To be in the play, high students had to commit to a pretty rigorous schedule. There were rehearsals every day after school and on Saturdays starting just after Christmas vacation. Olson said there were hiccups. He wrote 26 songs, but they’re only using 25 because they couldn’t cast that final role. The male lead dropped out just before the kids left for vacation. Other actors have dropped out and had to be replaced.

“That’s kind of the nature of premiering a show of any kind, that you adapt to what you have,” Olson said.

But, taking the long view, Olson said on the eve of the first production Thursday that all signs seem to indicate Lee was right. Colony can handle it. Olson said there are still a few loose ends and quoted the movie “Shakespeare in Love” to say their solution is a mystery before backpedaling a bit.

“It’s not quite that much of a mystery. I know how to pull it together and we have another night to do it,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.