The Adventures of Pinocchio

Synopsis

When you're newly carved from a piece of wood, the last thing you want to do in sweep up and go to school. You want to have fun, like other boys. So begin The Adventures of Pinocchio, the tale of the wooden boy who longs to be good, but just can't help tumbling nose first into trouble. Guided by the Blue Fairy, Pinocchio has lots to learn before he can discover the secret to becoming a real boy. He is tricked by the sly fox and clever cat, has his lying nose pecked by woodpeckers, is captured in the Big Green Fisherman's net and is wickedly turned into a performing donkey!

Our Review:

17 September 2010

Let’s not use the mighty Wagnerian word “Gesamtkunstwerk”, but it’s the integration of all the arts that makes Opera North’s The Adventures of Pinocchio such a triumph, from the front cloth apparently done by primary school Chagalls onwards. On its premiere in 2007 it was greeted as (almost uniquely) an opera instantly enjoyable for both children and adults and it returns as an established success.

Alasdair Middleton’s witty and incisive libretto preserves Carlo Collodi’s original fable, including its simple moral, and resists Disneyfication. Jonathan Dove’s music covers a huge range of styles while always remaining accessible and distinctive. Martin Duncan’s highly inventive production marshals flocks of bizarre characters with enviable nonchalance and [Francis O’Connor]’s appealingly ingenious and practical designs negotiate 20 different scenes without pausing fo...

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