PINOCCHIO Weinberg, Anna Hop – Polish National Opera and Ballet

Toymaker Gepetto creates a wooden puppet toy named Pinocchio and wishes on a star that he would be a real boy. A kindly Blue Fairy appears and grants his wish bringing Pinocchio to life. With a long nose which grows longer when he lies, Pinocchio learns that he must prove himself worthy in order to make his father's wish come true.

Originally conceived by Carlo Collodi, the Pinocchio story has seen adaptations over the eras. Here Polish National Ballet presents a danced version to music by Mieczysław Weinberg, the Polish-born Soviet composer Mieczylaw Weinberg, who has the dubious honour of having suffered the fury of anti-Semitism in both its Nazi and Stalinist variants. Until recently better known for his symphonies, Weinberg’s works for stage, such as Die Passagerin, are increasingly seen in European theatres. Pinocchio is based on Buratino, a reworking of the original tale by Alexei Tolstoy, a distant cousin of the famous writer. Inspired by commedia dell’arte, burattino is Italian for 'marionette' and the name of a character of those improvised comedies. Written between 1954 and 1955, Weinberg’s piece was meant for children, despite including allusions to the oppressive Soviet realities that only grown-ups could infer. The ballet is a vibrant, multicoloured story full of humour, lyricism, and references to popular dances (waltz, tarantella). Choreographer Anna Hop presents original story fit for the modern age, to be enjoyed by children of all ages and all thanks to: Weinberg’s playful music, the beauty of dance, the magic of theatrical imagery, and the touching story about the triumph of vulnerability over violence, the pursuit of freedom and the necessity to sometimes lose one’s way to grow as a person.

Full performance streamed on OperaVision from 12 July 2024 at 19:00 CET to 12 January 2025 at 12:00 CET: https://operavision.eu/performance/pi...

CAST

Pinocchio 1
Anastasiia Bilokon

Pinocchio 2
Diogo de Oliveira

Pinocchio 3
Vladimir Yaroshenko

Geppetto
Łukasz Tużnik

Cricket
Marko Juusela

The Fox
Kristóf Szabó

The Cat
Karolina Kiermut

Blue Fairy
Evelina Godunova

Green Fairy
Mai Kageyama

White Fairy
Yuka Ebihara

Red Fairy
Yume Okano

Teacher
Joanna Drabik

Theatre Director
Paweł Koncewoj

Candlewick
Ryota Kitai

The Wolf
Marco Esposito

Little Pigs
Wiktoria Kotlińska
Barbara Derleta
Paulina Magier

Conductor
Yana Shtanhei

The Cuckoo
Eugénie Hecquet

Clocks
Cezary Wąsik
Kasper Górczak

Dancers
Polish National Ballet
Polish National Ballet Junior
Students of Roman Turczynowicz Ballet School

Orchestra
Polish National Opera Orchestra

Music
Mieczysław Weinberg

Text
Anna Hop after the novel by Carlo Collodi

Music editing
Anna Hop
Marta Kluczyńska

Director and Choreographer
Anna Hop

Conductor
Marta Kluczyńska

Set, Lighting and Multimedia Designer
Małgorzata Szabłowska

Costumes
Katarzyna Rott

Make-up
Lidia Wajdyk-Szmańda

Film director
Ewa Krasucka

Sound director
Emilian Rymarowicz

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