"Pinnocchio" |
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Growing up in the '50's, it was hard to miss Disney's classic version of Pinocchio. My most prized possession was one of those little red 45rpm records with storybook. (I can still remember the reminders: "turn the page now.") I had to fight for playing time with my older brothers, who seemed obsessed with some greasy guy shouting about a hound dog.
A few years ago, after Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre presented Peter Pan, we wondered what story we might next produce for the children and families of Fairbanks: that little red record from years ago kept spinning in my mind. The Minnesota Children's Theatre and playwright Timothy Mason graciously granted permission for us to use Mr. Mason's fine script. Then Fairbanks' own Jim Bell agreed to look it over. The musical magic he has created for this production seems to complement the story so perfectly that I now have trouble imagining the play without it.
120 years ago, a middle-aged civil servant named Carlo Lorenzini wrote a short episode for a friend's newspaper on the life of the wooden puppet, pretty much "on a lark." He took as his pen name the name of the village in Tuscany, Collodi, where his mother was born. The story was instantly popular, and the author elaborated on Pinocchio's adventures with further installments. Somehow he had struck a common chord and captured the fascination of children for generations to come. What is it about Pinocchio that holds our attention? Maybe we can all relate to his search for identity, love and acceptance. And, certainly every child within us grapples with the truth a time or two. Hope you enjoy the show.
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Being a child at heart, I love to compose for children's shows. In may ways, children's shows are like old-fashioned melodramas, where good is good and evil is evil. The protagonist is usually very, very good-or at least becomes so after surviving the temptations created by the plot, where finally good triumphs over evil. Although the character Pinocchio dabbles with deceit and other forms of bad behavior, in the end the virtues of love and fidelity to his paper, honesty and goodwill triumph. I think that what we have accomplished by adapting this script into a musical is to help flesh out the characters. It adds a dimension of color and liveliness perhaps not possible without music. Although I hasten to add that Timothy Mason's adaptation of the Carlo Collodi piece is already a fun and lively interpretation, my job has been one of fleshing things out and coloring in the outlines. I think that together, Mr. Mason and I will have successfully taken it out of the 'children's fable category' and put it firmly into a category of its own as a viable piece of American Musical Theatre.
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Click on any image for a larger view.
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Pinnocchio crew photos - Click on any image for a larger view.
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