Singers, orchestral musicians and puppets come together for two nights only in the service of an early 10th century French composer. Maruice Ravel's The Child and the Spells comes to life thanks to the Milwaukee Opera Theatre.
In the original French thats': L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties--so it's a lyric fantasy in two parts.
The concept comes from French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette. A rude little boy is reprimanded by his mother. He throws a tantrum and begins destroying things in the room. Then the things in the room start yelling at him. By the time the room has transformed not a garden, things get kind of weird. So the kid abuses the resources he's living with and they get upset with it. And they yell at him. It debuted in the mid-'20s. Reading the synopsis I can't help but get kind of a weird ecological theme going on in the background of my mind. It's probably safe to say that there wasn't any kind of allegorical intention in the story, but the production might be picking up on it as well. Evidently the puppets are made out of trash--cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, coffee cups and various other formerly inanimate denizens of the dumpster.
L'enfant et les sortilèges runs February 14th and 15th at UWM's Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts on 2419 East Kenwood Boulevard. For ticket reservations, call 414-229-4308 or visit UWM online.
