Katie Wilson also directs this production featuring numerous fine talents. Starring as the kind and generous “princess” Sara Crewe is the delightful Erin Wuthrich. Sara Crewe is the imaginative, generous, and considerate rich girl who becomes impoverished when her father (Jay Moses) is reported killed in action, but just becomes even more generous despite her poverty and new low station in the house.

And what an awful house it is, run by the cold and bitter Miss Minchin (Havilah Duff) who jealously despises Sara no matter what the little girl does, becoming even more vindictive when Sara loses her father. Havilah gives an outstandingly cruel performance with just occasional hints of humanity slipping through her cold shell, all coming together in her show-stopping finale This Girl.

Enthusiastically helping Miss Minchin in her persecution of Sarah is the vain and vindictive Lavinia (Danielle Klee) along with her loyal gang of brats who are always quick to fawn over Lavinia and sneer at her rivals. But Lavinia and her gang, along with Miss Minchin, give Sara a chance to show just how kind and forgiving she truly is. This amusingly obnoxious group is also the source of most of the show’s comedy, and we are always happy to see them onstage even if poor Sara is not!

The other comedy comes by way of Miss Minchin’s sweet and romantically minded sister Miss Amelia (a.k.a. Jellybean) played by Lauren King and her courtship with the humble groundskeeper Kyle Hawk, combining for the charming This Might Be Love number.

Yet another big scene is the fanciful Princess Penny based on a story that Sara tells her friends about a glum princess who never smiles no matter what her parents and the entire kingdom do to try to get her to laugh. With some terrific costumes (Sharon Kasten), some classic bored and disdainful looks by Princess Penny (Krista Colley), and hysterical performances by the ensemble led by Jay Moses and Havilah Duff as the king and queen, this little story within a story is a highly entertaining diversion.

All that, along with impressive performances by Jay Moses as Sara’s gentle and sensitive father, Maegan Cruse as his wife Faith who dies giving birth to Sara, Dawn Powell as a Baker Woman who is touched by Sara’s generosity in the beautiful song In Sara’s Eyes, and a cast of many other strong performers made for a touching and thoroughly enjoyable evening of both good theatre and an important story with an even more important message.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to cast member Alex Stauffer who was injured in a serious car accident shortly after the last performance.  

Rob Hopper
San Diego Playbill