Small stage
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STARRING Daria Shuvalova, Maksim Golovachyov, Conductor — Eldar Nagiev

Little Red Riding Hood

opera for children in 1 act

Artists

Little red riding hood
Julia Nikiforova
Woodpecker, Hunter

Credits

M. S. P. text after Charles Perrault’s tale of the same name.
Performance includes excerpts from Rostislav Boyko’s opera “Song in the woods”.
Orchestral revision by Alexander Abramenko.

Stage Director, creator of artistic concept, music selection: Vyacheslav Starodubtsev
Set designer: Timur Gulyaev
Costume designer: Elena Oleynik
Stage movement: Sergey Zakharin
Lighting designer: Irina Vtornikova
Video content designer: Vadim Dulenko
Conductor: Eldar Nagiev
Assistant director: Nikolay Natsybulin

50 minutes

Premiered on April 14, 2019

“Little Red Riding Hood” as well as “Terem-teremok” (“Little hideaway”) is intended for the youngest members of the audience, but it is very important for me to make each of our productions diversified and multigenre. This will be a game opera, an adventure opera designed as children’s board game. Therefore, the sets will be designed as a game field and the scenery - as pieces of children’s construction set. What is absolutely new about this production is that it will be a combination of opera and puppet theatre – artists will interact with puppets on the stage. We intentionally updated “Little Red Riding Hood” with a video projection – this feature from the digital gaming world familiar to modern kids will bring the opera performance even closer to this generation of theatre goers.

Vyacheslav Starodubtsev, Stage director

There is a house standing on the forest fringe; a girl called Little Red Riding Hood lives there. Her mother is packing a basket for grandmother. She fell sick and the girl now needs to bring her the treats – milk and pie. A long journey is on the cards, and besides that Little Red Riding Hood is not quite familiar with the path. Mother asks her to be careful, not to wander around and not to make small talks with strangers: “Watch out, do not speak to anyone!” So Little Red Riding Hood sets off along the path through the forest.

She overhears the sound of axes in the distance – those are lumbermen going to work in the morning. Little Red Riding Hood walks around the forest: how picturesque is everything around! How beautiful are the flowers! She slips off a flower, then another one, and there she is – assembling a bouquet for her grandma, having completely lost the way.

The wolf shows up from the bushes. He is surprised: “Aren’t you afraid of what you may encounter amidst the forest?” Little Red Riding Hood tells the wolf that she is heading to her grandmother with treats. The wolf wants to entangle Little Red Riding Hood and shows her the longer way to her grandma’s lodge. He suggests they race each other. Little Red Riding Hood takes the longer way and the wolf uses a shortcut. Along the way Little Red Riding Hood meets different animals – a woodpecker, a tree frog, and a crane – each telling their stories to Little Red Riding Hood.

The hungry wolf runs hard, and here he is – knocking at grandmother’s door. She takes him for her grandchild. The wolf attacks Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother and gobbles her up.

It was already dark when Little Red Riding Hood made it to her grandmother’s lodge. The wolf meanwhile put on a night cap and lay on the bed feigning Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. The wolf-grandmother asks the girl to lie next to her and warm her. Little Red Riding Hood is confused: why does her grandma has such big limbs? And teeth as well? And next moment, the wolf pounces on Little Red Riding Hood…

The hunters are searching the forest for prey. Lumbermen walk towards them and tell they saw a house on the forest fringe intruded by a frightful beast. He ate the old woman with her grandchild and now is enjoying a quiet sleep with full stomach. The hunters decide to head to the house immediately and to cut the wolf’s belly open setting the victims free.

The wolf is asleep. Hunters surround him and soon we see Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother appear harmless from his belly. Grandmother asks to forgive the wolf, because he is not evil, just hungry. Hunters agree to sew up his belly and to throw him to the merriment of wild dogs. The wolf asks not to judge him harshly, for he has changed already: “My insides are torn and look, I’m reborn!” He asks grandmother for some bread and sweets.
Hunters eventually forgive the wolf. However, they demanded to stick to his word and stay away from small kids and grannies. “From now on I only do good!” – replies the happy wolf.