Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's classic children's novel about friendship comes to the stage in this family-friendly musical by Joseph Robinette, with music and lyrics by Charles Strouse. At the Arable farm, a litter of pigs has been born. When Pa decides to kill the runt of the litter, his eight-year-old daughter Fern begs him to let her keep the piglet as a pet. Pa relents and Ma helps Fern bring the newly named Wilbur to health. Pa sells Wilbur to a neighboring family, the Zuckermans, and though the barn animals welcome him warmly, Wilbur quickly becomes lonely as Fern's visits grow fewer and fewer. The barnyard spider Charlotte decides to befriend the young pig and, when he attempts to run away after learning that he will soon be killed, she gathers the barn animals together (even self-serving rat Templeton) to come up with a plan to save Wilbur's life. By laboriously writing messages in her web commending Wilbur, Charlotte convinces the Zuchermans to bring Wilbur to the country fair to compete against the award winning pig Uncle. When Charlotte passes away from old age at the fair, Wilbur returns her friendship to him by carrying her egg sack back to the farm so that her children can be born safely.
