Brian Damage
03-06-2010, 09:23 PM
"It was a huge part of my life,'' Gilbert said recently. "I owe so much to not only the legacy of Michael Landon (who played her father and was executive producer of the show) and the television series but Laura Ingalls Wilder and the books. I feel a real mantle of responsibility in being one of the flame keepers.''
Especially for women around Gilbert's age — she is 46 in May — Little House is a touchstone of childhood. "It's like comfort food — the comfort food of television,'' Gilbert said of the series, which has been in constant syndication for 30 years.
The musical is adapted from Wilder's books, not the TV show. "Because we were on for 10 years, there was a lot of dramatic license taken,'' Gilbert said. "There were a lot of characters in the show that did not exist in the books: the brother Albert, the kids whose parents were killed in the wagon accident. Mary's husband — Mary Ingalls never married; she never had a baby that died in a fire. Mr. Edwards existed, but not in the way he existed in the series. But had we stuck exactly to the books, we would have had nine episodes, because there were only nine books.''
http://www.tampabay.com/features/performingarts/melissa-gilbert-is-now-ma-in-little-house-on-the-prairie/1075547
Especially for women around Gilbert's age — she is 46 in May — Little House is a touchstone of childhood. "It's like comfort food — the comfort food of television,'' Gilbert said of the series, which has been in constant syndication for 30 years.
The musical is adapted from Wilder's books, not the TV show. "Because we were on for 10 years, there was a lot of dramatic license taken,'' Gilbert said. "There were a lot of characters in the show that did not exist in the books: the brother Albert, the kids whose parents were killed in the wagon accident. Mary's husband — Mary Ingalls never married; she never had a baby that died in a fire. Mr. Edwards existed, but not in the way he existed in the series. But had we stuck exactly to the books, we would have had nine episodes, because there were only nine books.''
http://www.tampabay.com/features/performingarts/melissa-gilbert-is-now-ma-in-little-house-on-the-prairie/1075547