Cast: 25 speaking roles with opportunities for cross-gender casting and doubling. Running time: approx. 75 minutes. Based on the northern German medieval folktale and its many retellings.
Summary:
In this stage version of the classic children's tale, Hamelin's rats and the humans wage political and social war against each other and anyone who contradicts them. The Piper, a former resident of the orphans' home, comes back to get his due. When the mayor refuses to pay him for ridding the town of rats, the piper sets a daze on the adults and pipes away the children. Franz, a crippled orphan, returns to the village, healed from his limp and bearing the news that the children are happier than ever and tucked safely away inside the mountain. This turn of events causes the adults of Hamelin to recognize their folly as the Piper delivers a final moral narrative.
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