PINOCCHIO – REVIEW OF 2017 AIX-EN-PROVENCE
FESTIVAL PRODUCTION
James Karas
Conductor Emilio Pomarico
Director Joël Pommerat
Set and Lighting Éric
Soyer
Costumes Designer Isabelle
Deffin
Video Renaud
Rubiano
Manager of Theatre
Company and Circus
etc. Stéphane Dégout
The Father, The School
Master etc. Vincent
Le Texier
The Puppet Chloé
Briot
The Cabaret Manager,
The
Judge, The Donkey
Dealer etc. Yann Beuron
The Cabaret Singer,
The Naughty
Pupil Julie
Boulianne
The Fairy Marie-Eve
Munger
Stage musicians
Fabrizio Cassol (saxophone, imrovisation coordination), Philippe Thuriot
(accordion), Tcha Limberger (violin)
Orchestra Klangforum Wien
At the Grand Théâtre
de Provence from July 3 to July 16, 2017
The Aix-en-Provence Festival is in full swing with an astonishing array
of events in a mere three weeks (July 3 to 22, 2017). Six operas are featured
starting with Pinocchio, a new work by Philippe Boesmans receiving its world
premiere. And that is just a part of the cultural wealth available. Let’s start
with Pinocchio.
The libretto by Joël Pommerat is based on the classic fairy tale by
Carlo Collodi. The librettist also directs the production. Pommerat tells the
story of the wooden puppet whose nose grows frightfully when he lies. The
telling is through a Homeric-type bard, the manager of a travelling theatre
company, who is blind, narrates, sings and guides us through the story. He
illustrates his darkness for us and we see the story through his own “sight” or
darkness.
The tale is also a picaresque story full of adventures as Pinocchio goes
through a number of episodes from meeting murderers and a fairy, to going to
prison and joining a circus as a donkey, to going to school and finally
“growing up.” The picaresque is wrapped in a morality tale (after all it is a
children’s story) with lessons like obey your parents, go to school and don’t
lie, especially do not lie.
Boesmans has composed a variety of musical styles from recitative, to
singing, to some gypsy music as well as some operatic flourishes. Soprano Chloé
Briot plays Pinocchio, the rascally puppet who goes through all kinds of
misconduct until he is reconciled with his kind Father (bass-baritone Vincent
Le Texier).
Pinocchio is dressed in a black coat with a hood over his head and a
white mask over his face. We do not seem him as a boy until near the end when
he has gone through the transformation of becoming the hero of a morality tale.
Briot does an excellent job in the role.
Except for the Fairy, the other main members of the cast take several
roles each. Stéphane Dégout in addition to being the manager of the travelling
theatre company, also appears as a criminal, a murderer and the manager of the
circus. He is quite superb both vocally and as a master of ceremonies, a bard
and criminal.
Le Texier plays a murderer, an amusing and exasperated school teacher
and the kindly old father who gives “birth” to Pinocchio when his beloved tree
is felled by a storm.
Tenor Yann Beuron plays the Judge, the donkey merchant and cabaret
manager and two other roles. Mezzo-soprano Julie Boulianne is the cabaret
singer and the naughty pupil with some opportunity for humour.
Soprano-Marie-Eve Munger plays the Fairy and she gets some of the operatic flourishes
as she lectures Pinocchio. A fine cast.
With some exceptions, this is a dark show, full of shadows and smoke.
Most of the story is acted in small spaces. There is generous use of projected
videos that add tremendously to the dark, ominous atmosphere of the adventures
through which Pinocchio passes. The lighting by Éric Soyer is magnificent in
adding to the atmosphere of the opera.
There is a band on stage who(which) play(s) some rousing traditional music. The
Fairy, in a long white dress, stands high above the characters on the stage.
These are almost the only occasions when the darkness of the production is
relieved. The murderers look like Ku Klux Klan members.
The Klangforum Wien was conducted by Emilio Pomarico.
Pinocchio seems to
be intended for children and adults. There were numerous children, perhaps as young
as six years, in the audience and I am not sure how much of the story they got
or enjoyed. There was a youngster sitting beside me who spent most of the time making
comments or asking his mother questions about the production. (A future
critic?) His mother tried to keep him quiet to no avail and then stuck a
lollipop in his mouth. That restrained his commentary for a while but it was
replaced by slurping. She must have given up as they did not return for the
second act. That was probably the only questionable review that the performance
received.
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