David Alpert, Kate Reinders & Paul Gordon to Bring New Children's Musical to Muskegon Civic Theatre

Two Muskegon Civic Theatre alums return and bring a world premiere of a children's musical to Muskegon with them!

"Runaway Princess is about going on an adventure, and then returning home with a new sense of self and sharing that knowledge with those in the kingdom," says David Alpert (Broadway Associate Director of If/Then, the Tony-Award winning The Trip to Bountiful and assisted on The Best Man, and Guys & Dolls) who along with Kate Reinders ("High School Musical the Musical: The Series," Wicked, Gypsy, Something Rotten!) and Tony Award-nominee Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre, Daddy Long Legs, Emma) are bringing this brand-new musical to Muskegon Civic Theatre, where both David and Kate were bitten by the theatre bug.

"Muskegon Civic Theatre is where I was first introduced to theatre! I sang my first solo on the Beardsley stage," says Kate, "I still remember every word!"

David adds that he too got his first experience at Muskegon Civic Theatre "the first musical I was in was Rags in 1996, directed by Judy Johnson who created so many amazing opportunities for kids."

Besides being the start of their careers in theatre and performing arts they both knew that Muskegon was the place to start this next journey. "It only makes sense for Kate and me, who grew up at Muskegon Civic Theatre, to premiere this show in Muskegon and share the exciting process with the young performers in the hopes that they'll be inspired to keep finding their individual voices," says Alpert.

Kate chimed in with, "There's no better place to try out a new show! Muskegon Civic Theatre has always been a safe space to encourage creativity, individuality, and friendship."

As for this musical itself Reinders and co-writer Paul Gordon say, "Runaway Princess is the story of a 'perfect princess' who runs away to find her fairy godmother, and along the way she makes some fairy tale friends, learns real-life lessons, and starts to become her true, perfectly imperfect self."

Kate elaborates on where the idea for Princess (and yes, that's really her name) came from by saying," I have a young son and have been surrounded with children's stories and entertainment for the past few years and as I thought about different ideas and lessons I really want him to learn, I realized there were many I could still use some work on myself! So, I wanted to make a children's musical about some of those ideas, but was too nervous to write it on my own. Paul offered to write it with me, so we did!"

"Kate and I zoomed, wrote and recorded, and sent things back and forth daily, while she was in Salt Lake City and I was in New York, back and forth for months," added Paul. It was the middle of winter when David was added to the adventure, "when I was in Muskegon directing Anne & Emmett [for Muskegon Civic Theatre], I met up with Kate and she shared that she and Paul Gordon had been writing a show. Together we've been working on the show since the early spring...It's been super fun to collaborate with Kate and Paul over the last six months..."

What's next for the process is bringing the show to the stage! Auditions happened at Muskegon Civic Theatre over two days in June and were open to area students in 7th grade through college and the rehearsals would begin in August. The cast only has two weeks of rehearsals to put it all together before presenting the story of Princess to the world and according to the team, this is the best part! "Putting it on its feet and seeing it all come to life is so exciting! This is where it truly becomes a collaboration, which is what theatre is all about," says Gordon. David adds, "that moment at the end of a show when the lights go out and the audience applauds-that's magic. We've all come together from different paths but have met together, in the theater, for a shared experience."

As for this adventure, the world premiere of Runaway Princess is directed by David Alpert, Music Direction by Rachel Dean, rehearsal pianist for Hamilton and Moulin Rouge on Broadway as well as a staff pianist at NYU Steinhardt.

The Production Stage Manager is Ashton Bahr. The Design Team includes Brian Goodman (Scenic), Shawna Patten (Costumes), Tyler Dorman (Lighting), Mike Munson (Sound), and Rachel VanDyke (Props).

The cast includes Princess, Rory Ponce; Brad, Max Chalupa; Queen, Kira Staple; Mirror, Ethan Mathias; The Dragon, Christian Fletcher; The Rabbit, Zozz Chalupa; Cindy, Catherine Conrad; Snow, Cequoia "CeCe" Davis; Sleeps, Gabi Tomes; Witch, Da'Kaila Bell; Ensemble, Emily Drost, Mia Nardi, Zoey White, Lennon Lassanske, Jojo Adams, and Zariah Adams.

You can do your part by getting tickets and joining the audience for Runaway Princess, performed in the Beardsley Theatre in downtown Muskegon August 18-20, 2023 with 7:00 evening performances on Friday and Saturday, as well as, 2:00 matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday.

All tickets are $15.00 and can be found by following the links at muskegoncivictheatre.org, or by visiting or calling the Frauenthal Center Box Office 231-722-3852. Follow Princess as she falls down a rabbit hole of hijinks and fairy tale characters, uncovering the hidden truth about herself and whether or not #PrincessMeansPerfect.