Eugene Glebov
Le Petit Prince
ballet in two acts Wednesday | 27 November 2019|19:00
Age 12+ Дирижер – Олег Лесун |
null Dates
|
Composer: People’s Artist of Belarus, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus Eugene Glebov
Libretto version: Larisa Glebova, recipient of the Francysk Skaryna Medal Aleksandra Tikhomirova
Musical director: Aleh Lessoun
Choreography and staging: recipient of the Francysk Skaryna Medal Aleksandra Tikhomirova
Designer: People’s Artist of Russia, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic of Belarus Vyacheslav Okunev
Computer graphics: Viktoria Zlotnikova
Lighting designer: Irina Vtornikova
Assistant choreographer: People’s Artist of Belarus Igor Artamonov
Conductor: Ivan Kostyakhin
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes with one interval
Premiere: 1 November 2015
Летчик – Егор Азаркевич
Любимая – Александра Чижик
Маленький Принц – Такатоши Мачияма
Роза – Виктория Тренкина
Фонарщик – Дмитрий Шемет
Лис – Иван Савенков
Змея – Валерия Грудина
Дирижер – Олег Лесун
Prologue
A Lamplighter lights stars. One of them approaches and a Pilot appears. The Lamplighter and the Pilot enjoy the beauty of the universe.
Act I
The Pilot is in his element: he is overwhelmed by the flight of creative fantasy, high thoughts and intentions. His Beloved meets him on the earth. They are happy. But his irrepressible aspiration for new flights sows discord: flights are always dangerous, and his Beloved is afraid of losing him. The space around them fills with people-creatures who make every effort to force the Pilot and his Beloved to become like them. The Pilot resists adamantly, but his girlfriend joins them unwillingly. Outraged, she tears the picture which the Pilot has kept from his childhood to pieces.
Despair. Darkness falls. Thoughts about death, like snakes, creep into the Pilot’s mind.
The entrance of the Lamplighter bringing light saves the hero. Exhausted, he falls asleep into the Lamplighter’s arms. The Pilot dreams about the Little Prince’s Planet.
The Little Prince plays with the Lamplighter on his planet. The Pilot joins the game. They have fun and enjoy each other’s company. But there are some troubles on the planet: the malevolent Baobabs live here. If you don’t pull them up in time, they will spread over the entire planet and finally split it into pieces. Assisted by the Lamplighter and the Pilot, the Little Prince tries to get rid of the harmful plants.
Suddenly, they see another shoot growing up. But it doesn’t look like a baobab. It grows surprisingly quickly: a bud appears and blooms right away! It’s a Rose. She is beautiful! She is the embodiment of triumph! The Little Prince is happy!
He soon learns that the Rose, like all the beauties though, is not only beautiful but also capricious, and, besides, she has three sharp thorns!
The Little Prince dislikes any whims and stings and decides to escape from his planet. He takes advantage of the migration of a flock of Wild Birds.
The Pilot watches the Little Prince flying away.
The Adventures of the Little Prince
The first planet visited by the Prince is inhabited by a King clad in purple and ermine of loneliness. He is happy:
‘Ah! Here is a subject at last!’
The King does not accept any objections! But the Little Prince is sickened by the thought of being a subordinate and escapes from the King.
The next planet is inhabited by a Conceited Man.
‘Ah! Here is an admirer!’ the Conceited Man exclaimed, taking off his hat of vanity.
‘How odd he is! What is there in my applause that brings him joy?’ puzzled, the Little Prince escapes from the Conceited Man.
The third planet is inhabited by a Tippler.
The Tippler is looking at an army of bottles.
‘What are you doing?’ the Little Prince asks.
‘I am drinking’
‘Why?’
‘So that I may forget that I am ashamed. Ashamed of drinking.’
“The grown-ups are very strange” the Little Prince thinks, leaving the Tippler’s planet.
The next planet belongs to a Businessman.
The Businessman is occupied with the importance of addition, subtraction and division. All is a matter of business! He even counts the stars – they all belong to them!
“The grown-ups are certainly very odd,” he says to himself as he continues on his journey.”
Act II
The Little Prince and the flock of Wild Birds find themselves on the Earth.
They land in the desert with miles of no one around. It’s hot, gloomy and lonely here.
Suddenly the Lamplighter appears. He plays with the sad friends, showing them the coins of moving sunlight. Another gleam – and one of the coins turns into a merry red fellow. It is a Fox who soon becomes the Little Prince’s friend and discloses to him the mystery of the joy of socializing and the responsibility for those you have tamed.
The Little Prince feels uneasy; he understands why he is so sad. He is seized by the longing for his Rose.
But she is so far away.
Suddenly the Little Prince finds himself surrounded by roses. Numerous roses. They are cold and indifferent. They are not like his Rose at all!
‘You are beautiful, but you are empty! Nobody loves you!’
The roses turn into snakes. They encircle the Little Prince, advance on the Fox and are about to bite him. The Little Prince shields him and receives the mortal bite.
He bids farewell to the earthly life.
The Pilot awakes. A star is shining in his hand. The Little Prince puts it out, and the Pilot and the Lamplighter realize that the Little Prince has to leave the planet Earth.
A star shows up high in the sky: the Little Prince has returned to his planet, to his Rose.
The Pilot returns to his Beloved.
The Lamplighter puts the stars out.
Epilogue
What is more wonderful than childhood? Children are happy, and their sincerity, purity and creativity are wonderful. How marvelous it is when children and adults understand each other, when they dream and create together.
Cпектакль-лауреат IV Национальной театральной премии Республики Беларусь в номинации «Лучший спектакль балета».