Break 15:00–16:00
Break 15:00–16:00
Little Red Riding Hood
The opera Little Red Riding Hood, dedicated to Tsarevich Alexei Romanov, was written in 1911.
12 January,
Sunday,
12:00
12 January,
Sunday,
15:00
The opera Little Red Riding Hood is based on one of the best and most beloved folk tales, processed by the French writer Charles Perrault. The opera was written in 1911 and is dedicated to the heir of Nicholas II, the little Tsarevich Alexei. The name of the librettist is Marina Pol’.
The collection Histories, or Tales of Bygone Times with Moral Teachings, where Little Red Riding Hood was first published in 1697. Charles Perrault’s son Paul Darmancourt was named as the author, but Charles Perrault (1628–1703) himself was the real author. The success of the stories was deafening! They were adored and imitated. Fairy tales as a genre have become incredibly fashionable. Drawing plots for his stories mostly from folk tales, Perrault gave them a new shape, painted them with bright salon paints and added moralizing, which he considered a necessary component.
Unlike literary sources, which are numerous in European practice (for example, in the 19th century the brothers Grimm made their adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood, which was translated in Russia by P. Polevoy and then I. Turgenev), Marina Pol’, together with Caesar Cui realized that the opera is being written for children, and that children should not be frightened once again. At the same time, it is necessary to draw some useful lesson from the fairy tale. Therefore, a more humane treatment is applied to the Wolf - they do not kill him, but simply "do the operation", and then, at the request of Little Red Riding Hood, who, although angry, is by nature a kind girl, they even sew up his belly. As a result, the Gray Wolf repents, asks for forgiveness, and also promises to be kind and not do any harm to anyone in the future.
“When I had the idea to stage a fairytale in our theatre, I immediately remembered Caesar Cui. He is a wonderful composer who was the first in Russia to start creating operas for children. Not long ago we staged his opera Puss in Boots, and we were so encouraged by the experience of addressing the children's theme that we decided to invite our young viewers to continue their fabulous adventures with Little Red Riding Hood.
The theatre takes the children’s audience very seriously, so we expanded the score by adding music from Cui’s other children's operas and made a modern arrangement. As last time, we did not limit ourselves to illustrating a fairytale, we retell it in our own way. We fantasized such a situation when a fairytale is born in front of the public. I am sure that it is very interesting for children to watch how one fairy-tale character transforms into another. After all, this is a theatre for children.
Charles Perrault is a great writer, and I am very glad that we will have in our repertoire a small collection of two operas by Caesar Cui and two fairytales by Charles Perrault,” Yuri Alexandrov said.
Act I
In a dark dense forest, forest dwellers have gathered: gobies and forest firecrackers. They begin their story about the girl everyone called Little Red Riding Hood...
Once the mother of Little Red Riding Hood sent her daughter to visit her sick grandmother, and at the same time bring her favorite milk and cheesecakes. Grandmother lived far away, the road to her house went through the forest, where various animals and fabulous monsters lived.
The first hat met the goby. These ghostly creatures constantly changed their appearance, presenting themselves as woodcutters, then frogs, then owls ... After chatting with them and treating them with delicious cheesecakes, the girl hurried to her grandmother. But then the Gray Wolf jumped out of the thicket. He was very hungry, for three whole days there was no food in his mouth. Cunningly finding out where and why Little Red Riding Hood was heading, the predator thought that eating grandmother was a great idea. But! To do this, he needs to get into the hut before Little Red Riding Hood. Hoping to deceive the girl, the Wolf invited her to run a race. He himself rushed a short way, and Little Red Riding Hood ran along a long path.
Having run to the house, the Wolf faked his voice to the voice of Little Red Riding Hood and rushed to her grandmother. The half-blind old woman did not notice the substitution, mistaking the gray deceiver for her granddaughter ... But what happened to the grandmother..?
Act II
Little Red Riding Hood is lost. She meets terrible monsters that somehow remind her of gobies. The brave girl tames them with her kindness, and after that they disappear. Tired of an anxious day, Little Red Riding Hood falls asleep.
Meanwhile, the Wolf, having swallowed the old woman, nestled comfortably in her bed. Putting on his cap and glasses, he waits for the girl.
Waking up, Little Red Riding Hood realizes that she is not far from her grandmother’s hut. Entering the house, she, to her amazement, discovers that her grandmother has a very strange appearance. Huge ears stick out from under a huge cap. Huge eyes look out from behind huge glasses. Huge arms and legs protrude from under the blanket. Suddenly Little Red Riding Hood notices that her grandmother also has huge teeth ... Little Red Riding Hood had time to understand anything, as the evil Wolf pounced on her and swallowed her.
At the edge of the forest, hunters appear, in which the already familiar goby have become. Little Red Riding Hood’s mother runs out to meet them. She is worried and scared. She is sure that trouble has happened and she must rush to the aid of Little Red Riding Hood and grandmother. Cowardly hunters, frightened by a terrible beast, offer their mother to deal with the predator herself and rip his belly open. Mother of Little Red Riding Hood, having turned into a brave avenger, plunges a dagger into the Wolf’s belly. She sets free granddaughter and grandmother. Little Red Riding Hood’s mom and the hunters are going to kill the Wolf, but Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma stand up for him.
We hope that you, little viewers, will support our characters in this good endeavor!
The Wolf apologizes for his bad deeds and makes a promise that he will never harm anyone again. But what the cunning Wolf actually planned, of course, no one will know...
