The change was made to allow for a faster transition to the start of the Broadway run, which is expected in late September toward an October opening. No official Broadway dates have been announced.

Lyricist David Zippel ("City of Angels," "The Woman in White") conceived the idea, the Steinkellners wrote the libretto and Wilder ("Mulan") is the composer. Zippel directs.

The show is billed as "a fresh and innovative new musical-within-a-musical about a group of jaded private school girls who stage 'A Little Princess' with the help of one girl's movie star father," according to 5th Avenue.

The show had a developmental run in 2004 at Goodspeed Musicals' Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, CT.

David Armstrong, producing artistic director for The 5th Avenue Theatre, said in a statement, "We believe strongly that Princesses will grow up and do big things on Broadway. Since the success of Hairspray, which won eight Tony Awards in 2002, The 5th Avenue has emerged as a national leader in the development of new musicals. Now Broadway producers frequently seek us out as partners to help bring significant new works like Princesses to the stage. ...Once again Seattle audiences can see Broadway’s next hit musical, with the original Broadway cast, before anyone else in the country." "A Little Princess" is the beloved Frances Hodgson Burnett novel for young people. Andrew Lippa and Brian Crawley have written a Broadway-aimed version of it that played a developmental run in California in 2004.

Single tickets for the Seattle engagement of Princesses go on sale April 22.

For more information about 5th Avenue Theatre, visit www.5thavenuetheatre.org.