The Short History of a Prince: A Novel

Robert Sean Leonard (Much Ado About Nothing, Dead Poet's Society) brings a dramatic dimension to the bittersweet story of Walter McCloud, who has high hopes of becoming a ballet dancer. Leonard's flexible voice captures the thoughts and feelings of Walter both as a teenager and as a thirty-something high school teacher. The story begins with the star, an aspiring adolescent ballet dancer, coming to terms with his lack of talent when he is chosen to be the Prince in a third-rate production of the Nutcracker, while his friends dance lead roles in Chicago. The same winter, Walter has his first homosexual experience and his older brother becomes terminally ill. These profound events will haunt Walter for 20 years as he focuses on his coming to terms with his past tragedies and present shortcomings--making for a moving and often funny tale of forgiveness and understanding. Curiously, it is not his love of Balanchine, music and other refined aesthetics that restore a floundering Walter. The anchor he finds is a place, the family summer home on a lake in Wisconsin. It is Hamilton's ability to juxtapose the remarkable against the unremarkable that gives this work its poignancy and grace. --Anne Depue (Running Time: 4 Hours; Four Cassettes)