| Fantastic Mr. Fox | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Tobias Picker | |
| Librettist | Donald Sturrock |
| Language | English |
| Based on | Roald Dahl's children's novel |
| Premiere | |
Fantastic Mr. Fox is an opera in three acts composed by Tobias Picker to a libretto by Donald Sturrock based on Roald Dahl's children's novel of the same name. It was premiered by Los Angeles Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on December 9, 1998.
In 2010, it was adapted into an abridged version with seven instrumentalists, and in 2011, a full-length version with the same reduced orchestration. In 2019, Fantastic Mr. Fox was recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera and released on Albany Records and was subsequently awarded the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. [1] [2] [3]
Picker's second opera (after his 1996 Emmeline)Fantastic Mr Fox was commissioned by the Roald Dahl Foundation. It received its world premiere performance by the Los Angeles Opera on December 9, 1998. [4]
In 2010, Stephen Barlow staged a new version of the work commissioned by Opera Holland Park especially designed to be performed promenade style in the gardens of Holland Park. This version, in an abridged form for seven instruments, starred Grant Doyle as Mr. Fox, Olivia Ray as Mrs. Fox, Laura Woods (Mezzo-Soprano) as Agnes The Digger, Jaimee Marshall as Miss Hedgehog, Henry Grant Kerswell, Peter Kent and John Lofthouse as Farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean.
An additional full-length orchestral version was toured by English Touring Opera in 2011. [5] [6] The world premiere of a full-length seven-instrument chamber version was produced in September 2011 in Pittsburgh, PA and starred Daniel Teadt as Mr. Fox, Katherine Brandt as Mrs. Fox, Leah Dyer as Miss Hedgehog, Sean Donaldson, Jeffrey Gross, Sean Lenhart as Farmers Boggis, Bunce & Bean.
In 2014, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera performed and recorded Fantastic Mr. Fox at Boston University's Jordan Hall, conducted by Gil Rose and featuring John Brancy as Mr. Fox, Krista River as Mrs. Fox, and Andrew Craig Brown, Edwin Vega, and Gabriel Preisser as Boggis, Bunce, & Bean. [7] The recording of this performance was released in 2019 on BMOP/sound, and won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. [1] [2] [3]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, December 9, 1998 (conductor: Peter Ash) [8] | Boston cast, 2014 (conductor: Gil Rose) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mrs. Fox | mezzo-soprano | Suzanna Guzmán | Krista River |
| Bennie Foxcub | treble | Jason Housman | Abigail Long |
| Lennie Foxcub | treble | Theo Lebow | Zoe Tekeian |
| Jennie Foxcub | treble | Lauren Libaw | Abi Tenenbaum |
| Pennie Foxcub | treble | Amy Recinos | Madeleine Kline |
| Farmer Boggis | bass | Louis Lebherz | Andrew Craig Brown |
| Farmer Bunce | tenor | Doug Jones | Edwin Vega |
| Farmer Bean | baritone | Jamie Offenbach | Gabriel Preisser |
| Fantastic Mr. Fox | baritone | Gerald Finley | John Brancy |
| Agnes the Digger | mezzo-soprano | Jill Grove | Andrey Nemzer |
| Mavis the Tractor | soprano | Lesley Leighton | Gail Novak Mosites |
| Miss Hedgehog | soprano | Sari Gruber | Elizabeth Futral |
| Badger the Miner | baritone | Malcolm MacKenzie | John Dooley |
| Burrowing Mole | tenor | Jorge Garza | Jonathan Blalock |
| Rita the Rat | mezzo-soprano | Josepha Gayer | Tynan Davis |
| Porcupine | tenor | Charles Castronovo | Theo Lebow |
A modern fable, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a story about good vs. evil, animal vs. human, and technology. With the help of the other creatures of the forest, Mr. Fox must outwit his enemies to keep his family safe. Mr. Fox finds that he may have stolen one hen too many from the henhouse, as the meanest farmers anywhere — Boggis, Bunce, and Bean (one fat, one short, one lean) — conspire to rid their lands of the Fox family once and for all. The Foxes are able to evade capture with the help of some woodland friends, leaving the farmers laying in wait while the animals help themselves to the fruit of the farmers' lands. Having had their revenge, the animals return for a sumptuous feast far from danger in the Foxes' new home, while the farmers continue to wait in the rain. [9]
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Roald Dahl was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. Dahl has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century".
Fantastic Mr Fox is a children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl. It was published in 1970, by George Allen & Unwin in the UK and Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S., with illustrations by Donald Chaffin. The first Puffin paperback, first issued in 1974, featured illustrations by Jill Bennett. Later editions have featured illustrations by Tony Ross (1988) and Quentin Blake (1996). The story is about Mr Fox and how he outwits his farmer neighbours to steal their food from right under their noses.
Tobias Picker is an American composer, pianist, and conductor, noted for his orchestral works Old and Lost Rivers, Keys To The City, and The Encantadas, as well as his operas Emmeline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, An American Tragedy and Lili Elbe, among many other works.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated comedy film directed by Wes Anderson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Noah Baumbach. The film is based on the 1970 children's novel by Roald Dahl. The cast includes George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, and Owen Wilson. The plot follows the titular character Mr. Fox, as his spree of thefts results in his family, and later his community, being hunted down by three farmers known as Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.
Suzanna Guzmán is an American mezzo-soprano and Emmy Award winning television host. Currently she is the host of the weekly radio program Opera at Noon and On Broadway on 105.1HD4 KMozart. She was also seen as host on television's KCET's weekly series Open Call. As a singer she has performed with international and American opera companies as a principal artist: La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, La favorite in Montpellier, France, and Goya at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. She is known for her portrayal of the title role in Carmen for Houston Grand Opera's multimedia production, a role she has performed more than 200 times. Recent appearances have been with Spoleto Festival USA, SIFA- Singapore Festival of the Arts, Opera Santa Barbara, Los Angeles Philharmonic and with Latino Theatre Company for 17 seasons as La Virgen in the annual pageant Diós Inatzin: La Virgen de Tepeyac.
Emmeline is an opera in two acts composed by American Tobias Picker with a libretto by J. D. McClatchy. Picker's first opera, it was commissioned by the Santa Fe Opera company and premiered in 1996. Based on Judith Rossner's novel of the same name, Emmeline is an American retelling of the Oedipus myth from the mother’s viewpoint.
The Golden Ticket is an opera based on Roald Dahl's classic 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by the contemporary American composer Peter Ash, with a libretto by Donald Sturrock. The Golden Ticket was commissioned by American Lyric Theater, Lawrence Edelson, Producing Artistic Director; and Felicity Dahl. It premiered at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis on June 13, 2010 in a co-production between OTSL, Ireland's Wexford Festival Opera, and American Lyric Theater.
Thérèse Raquin is an American opera in two acts composed by Tobias Picker to a libretto by Gene Scheer based on the 1867 novel Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola. It is Picker's third opera, following Emmeline (1996) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (1998). It was commissioned by the Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, and the Opéra de Montréal. It premiered in November 2001. In 2006, a version with reduced orchestration was commissioned by Opera Theatre Europe; it premiered that year at the Royal Opera House and had its first New York performance in 2007 at Dicapo Opera Theatre. This version was subsequently produced by Boston University Opera Institute in 2009, Pittsburgh's Microscopic Opera Company in 2013, and both Long Beach Opera and the Chicago Opera Theater in 2015.
Richard Bernstein is an American bass. He is currently a member of the Metropolitan Opera; 2023–24 is his 28th consecutive season with the company; he has sung over 500 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, and has been a part of more than 125 international live broadcasts with the company.
Dolores Claiborne is an opera in two acts composed by Tobias Picker to a libretto by J. D. McClatchy. Based Stephen King's 1992 novel Dolores Claiborne, the opera was commissioned by the San Francisco Opera and premiered in San Francisco on September 18, 2013. In 2017, the New York City Opera performed the world premiere of a new chamber version of the opera at the 59E59 Theater A, directed by Michael Capasso. In 2019, it was produced by the Boston University Opera Institute.
Odyssey Opera is an opera company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 2013 by Gil Rose, it typically begins its season with a concert performance of a large, rarely heard opera in the fall, continuing the season with fully staged renditions of early, classical, and contemporary opera. The company is known for performing "offbeat, neglected repertoire, with a special nod to those never, or rarely, performed in Boston" and New England.
John Brancy is an American operatic baritone performing with leading opera companies around the world. He is of Polish, German, English and Scottish descent.
Fantastic Mr Fox is a musical stage adaptation of the children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, adapted by Sam Holcroft with music by Arthur Darvill and lyrics by Holcroft, Darvill, Darren Clark and Al Muriel. The story follows Mr Fox who hatches a plan to outsmart his three farmer neighbours in order to feed his family and friends.
Peter Ash is a composer and conductor, best known for his opera The Golden Ticket and for his work with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, of which he has been artistic director since 2001.
Fantastic Mr Fox is a 1970 children's book by Roald Dahl.
Jones' Hill Wood is a 1.8-hectare (4.4-acre) piece of ancient woodland near Wendover in Buckinghamshire, south England. Formed mainly of beech trees, the wood is part of the Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Almost half of the wood is planned to be chopped down to make way for the route of High Speed 2 (HS2) and the topsoil will be translocated. In October 2020, a protest camp was evicted.
Theo Lebow is an American operatic tenor, based at the Oper Frankfurt. He has performed leading roles in the United States and Europe, including world premieres such as Gordon's 27 and Herrmann's Der Mieter.
Awakenings is an opera in two acts composed by Tobias Picker, with a libretto by Aryeh Lev Stollman. Based on Awakenings, Oliver Sacks' 1960's chronicle of his efforts to help the victims of an encephalitis epidemic, the opera was commissioned by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and premiered on June 5, 2022. The East Coast premiere of Awakenings was performed by Odyssey Opera in partnership with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, conducted by Gil Rose and directed by James Robinson, on February 25, 2023, at the newly renovated Huntington Theater.
The Encantadas is an orchestral composition written by the American composer Tobias Picker in 1984 for the Albany Symphony Orchestra.
