Showing @ Festival Theatre until Sat 30 Oct
Kids eh? You can’t tell them anything, particularly the little wooden ones. Fortunately youthful rebellion especially if it includes magic, monsters, and attractive fairies can be exceedingly entertaining.
For those only familiar with Carlo Collodi’s morality tale through the Disney cartoon this show will come as something of a surprise. Opera North have not shied away from the darker elements in the story in fact they clearly relish in them and this gives it the sort of thrills which, lets face it, small children – and quite a few adults – adore.
The music by Jonathan Dove is both powerful and tender and skillfully complimented by the often very witty lyrics by Alistair Middleton, although one of the minimal flaws of the evening was the inability of many in the audience to make out all of the words being sung. Despite that, the performances were full of energy with Victoria Simmonds a splendidly wilful Pinocchio, Rebecca Bottone providing a far more attractive Cricket than Disney’s and Mark Wilde and James Laing as the felonious Fox and Cat. The staging and the costumes both by Francis O’Connor were ingenious and what was initially a bare wooden stage transformed into all sorts of magical environments: circuses, boat yards, court rooms and the belly of a whale. There seemed no end to what might appear. As with the set, the costumes bought a whole menagerie, from crickets to donkeys, to life with intricate design work.
This show was created in part to be an introduction to opera for children but at 2hrs 50 mins it might be a little too long for some younger kids but it will provide fantastic entertainment for them as well as hopefully teaching them a few lessons.