Melissa Gilbert Plays ‘Little House,’ Aids Habitat for Humanity

By Patrick Cole

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) — The day before Melissa Gilbert began rehearsing her role as Ma Ingalls in “Little House on the Prairie — The Musical,” she spent a few hours in a hardhat helping to build a little flat above the urban terrain of the Bronx.

The red-haired Gilbert, dressed in a black T-shirt, jeans and tool apron, joined Habitat for Humanity volunteers in hanging sheet rock in the skeletal second-floor structure of the Fox-Leggett Co-op Apartments.

“I’m the handyman at home, but not like this,” Gilbert, 45, said in an interview. “This is my first time putting up dry wall.”

It won’t be her last. Gilbert and the rest of the cast have made a commitment to help Habitat build homes in the 25 cities the touring show will visit through June 2010.

The musical opens Sept. 10 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. The production and hosting theaters will also donate at least $1,500 from ticket sales to local Habitat chapters in each of those cities, which include Denver, Oklahoma City, Toronto, Houston and Dallas.

“It’s always really encouraging when you meet someone like Melissa who doesn’t have to come out and get their hands dirty, sweat and put up dry wall, and they’re really excited about it,” said Joshua Lockwood, executive director of Habitat for Humanity-New York City.

The collaboration arose when one of the production’s partners approached Habitat board member Janet Huckabee, wife of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, said Ben Sprecher, the musical’s lead producer.

Symbiotic Players

“The goals of Habitat and the theme of ‘Prairie’ resonate,” Sprecher said. “We saw that the players here could have a symbiotic relationship.”

Founded in 1976, the Atlanta-based Habitat has built more than 300,000 houses around the world, providing shelter for more than 1.5 million people. The organization needs about 1 million volunteers yearly to help build affordable housing, Lockwood said.

The 12 units under construction in the 50-unit building are a joint project between Habitat and Blue Sea Development Co. designed as first homes for families of four with incomes of $38,000 to $61,000. Having Gilbert and other cast members at the site creates excitement and helps get the word out to families looking for an affordable home, Lockwood said.

“Little House on the Prairie” tells the story of one family’s life in the American Midwest in the late 19th century as seen through the eyes of daughter Laura. The beloved books were turned into a popular TV series starring Michael Landon as Pa and Gilbert as Laura.

The musical version, directed by opera and Broadway director Francesca Zambello (“The Little Mermaid”) with music by Oscar winner Rachel Portman and a book by Tony Award winner Rachel Sheinkin, broke all box office records when it premiered last year at Minneapolis’s Tyrone Guthrie Theatre.

‘Prairie Tale’

Gilbert, who documented her life and career ups and downs in her memoir published in June, “Prairie Tale,” said she couldn’t let her rehearsal schedule get in the way of giving back. A former president of the Screen Actors Guild, Gilbert currently serves as board president and a national spokeswoman for the Watsonville, California-based Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition.

“I was telling my sons that we’re building someone’s home, someone’s going to live here and there’s a piece of us in here,” Gilbert said. “We really lose sight of our interconnectivity as a community even in a city like this. This is just a reminder that we all need each other.”

To contact the writer on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 5, 2009 00:01 EDT

taken from bloomberg.com 8-5-09