Brothers’ hip-hop version of ‘The Prince and the Pauper’ has Midwest premiere

Brothers Brian and Marvin Quijada have been making art together for most of their lives. As youngsters growing up in Glenview and Highwood, they wrote sketches that they filmed them using their father’s camera.

“We called the series ‘Seriously Joking’ because we took our comedy very seriously,” said Brian Quijada.

“We watched movies all the time,” he said. “We’d dream of being actors in these movies.”

Those dreams became reality. Individually, they earned acclaim (including Joseph Jefferson Awards) as actors, writers, composers and creators. Their first stage collaboration, “Kid Prince and Pablo” — a hip-hop adaptation of Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper,” in which the brothers played the titular roles — premiered five years ago at The Kennedy Center.

They hoped to tour the show, but the COVID-19 pandemic made that impossible. Marvin Quijada, who composed the score, feared the show might not get another production.

Enter Lifeline Theatre. A Chicago ensemble known for its literary adaptations, Lifeline is staging the Midwest premiere, which begins previews Friday, Jan. 3.

“It’s wild to see our baby being done by other individuals. We’re watching other people tell our story,” said co-creator and music director Marvin Quijada, who had to “come to terms with passing the baton to a whole new crew.”

“I can’t wait for opening night, to sit in the audience and see it from a different vantage point,” he said.

Set in a divided city where the ruling elites have banned rap and dance, the tuner centers around heir apparent Kid Prince and Pablo, a drummer for underground rap battles, whose decision to switch identities sparks mayhem and music.

Ten years in the making, the show grew out of the siblings’ interest in creating a show rooted in mistaken identity in which they could both adapt and star. Brian Quijada’s Google search for such a tale that was in the public domain led him to Twain’s novel.

“Holy moly,” thought Quijada, “this young adult book is about the wealth divide, it’s about the class divide … Twain is talking about stuff that is relevant today.”

Fast forward a couple of years. Brian Quijada had starred in “Where Did We Sit on the Bus?” his solo, autobiographical play about growing up Latino, which he performed locally, earning a Joseph Jefferson Award for solo performance in the process. He also performed the show off-Broadway.

Its success prompted an invitation from the WildWind Performance Lab, a new play development conference at Texas Tech University. Quijada accepted, on the condition he could bring Marvin along.

“He introduced me to theater,” Brian Quijada said, “and he makes me feel safe.”

Tapping Marvin as composer and collaborator was a no-brainer, Quijada said.

“I love working with him because we have such a shorthand,” Brian Quijada said, adding that the key to a successful collaboration is mutual respect.

“The best idea prevailed,” he said. “It’s super diplomatic.”

“I rarely pull the big brother card. I rarely need to,” laughed Marvin Quijada, who earned a Jeff Award for principal performance and shared awards for score and new work for Teatro Vista’s 2023 premiere of “The Dream King,” a fanciful “silent musical” about a man who falls in love with a woman he meets in his dreams.

“It was also quite nice to be in a dialogue with a book most of us know,” adds Brian Quijada, one that offers a “fertile ground for observations about our country and where it’s going.”

“I tend to write a lot about immigration and the border. My brother writes a lot of physical pieces. This is a combination of both of those things,” he said.

Describing himself as “hopelessly hopeful,” Brian Quijada believes a show like “Kid Prince and Pablo,” which encourages people to look beyond race and class, “can be a balm to make it through.”

His brother agrees.

“Sure, we need a laugh,” said Marvin Quijada. “At the same time, (the show) has a powerful message: We have to stand up for ourselves and fight for what’s important to us, which is love … which is always timeless.”

• • •

“Kid Prince and Pablo”

When: Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 3-4 and 10-11, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5. The show opens Jan. 13 and runs at 7:30 p.m. Friday; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 16

Where: 6912 N. Glenwood Ave., Chicago, (773) 761-4477, lifelinetheatre.com

Tickets: $20-$45