April 4 is Children's Day (
For those in Taiwan unfamiliar with Stravinsky's The Firebird, this almost hundred-year-old ballet is based on Russian folk tales of Prince Ivan who captures a magical glowing bird. After begging for its life, the bird vows to help the prince in his courtship of thirteen beautiful princesses.
The evil antagonist Kashchei the Immortal sends his magical creatures to destroy Ivan, but the bird fulfills its promise and delivers him from evil. The story takes place in a magical realm filled with mystical beings, palaces, magical dances and spells.
What's so special about this version of The Firebird ?
First and foremost, in terms of performance, the NSO is collaborating with The Puppet and Its Double Theater (
American puppeteer Bart Roccoberton was invited in January to personally design and supervise the puppets creation and their movements. To further enhance the performance the theater design, lighting and dancers have carefully been choreographed to compliment the puppets.
Even though this finished product will be in many ways different from the original, the ballet's key themes of freedom and vivacity, characteristics that a firebird symbolizes in ancient Russian folklore, will nevertheless be prominent. Personally on hand to conduct will be Chien Wen-Pin (
This performance of The Firebird will mark the first time in Taiwan's musical and theatrical history that orchestra, classical ballet, and puppetry are combined in a single performance. It will mark NSO's first collaboration with The Puppet and Its Double Theater as well as the latter's first stage performance of this kind and scale in its seven-year existence. To guide the audience in maximizing their viewing experience, each performance first starts with a 30 minute orientation exercise.
"The NSO always puts on a performance especially for kids every year right around Children's Day," Hsiao Yuchen (蕭妤真), marketing director for the National Theater and Concert Hall said. "This year, as a continuing part of our Forever Fairytales series, we invited the famous Taiwan puppet group The Puppet and Its Double Theater to help create a new theater experience by using puppets, a medium that we thought children would especially appreciate.
"This way, the idea of listening to classical music and watching ballet would be more appealing to younger audiences and would hopefully result in an exciting and refreshing visual and musical experience for audiences of all ages. In the end it doesn't matter how old you are or whether you're more interested in the music or visual arts, as we hope everyone can walk out feeling that they've truly seen something different."
Performance notes:
What: NSO's The Firebird
Where: National Theater Hall
When: Today through Sunday at 10:30am, 7:30pm and 2:30pm
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