Guthrie announces 'Little House' cast

Melissa Gilbert
Actress Melissa Gilbert will star in this summer's Guthrie debut of "Little House on the Prairie." She will play the role of Ma Ingalls. Gilbert starred in the 1970s and 1980s TV series "Little House on the Prairie" and played the role of Laura Ingalls.
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Actress Melissa Gilbert returns to "Little House on the Prairie" - but this time playing the mother of her character from the popular 1970s television show.

The Guthrie Theater says Gilbert will play "Ma" Ingalls in a musical version of the "Little House" books that opens this summer.

As a child actress, the 44-year-old Gilbert portrayed Laura, the signature character in the TV series that starred Michael Landon.

The Guthrie says Kara Lindsay will play Laura in the musical. The role of "Pa" Ingalls will be played by Steve Blanchard, who starred as the Beast in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" for eight years on Broadway.

The musical is based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories about her homesteading family, which lived for a time near De Smet, South Dakota.