But Peter paid no attention to his grandfather’s words. Boys like him are not afraid of wolves.
My first time watching Peter and the Wolf was when I was in the fourth year of primary school during the performance art class. We got chances to conjecture different atmospheres created by various musical instruments as well as to learn how to perform with sentiments.
“Peter and the Wolf” was a children’s musical fairytale created and conducted by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936, one of the most important and influential composers in the 20th Century. What I love about Prokofiev’s music is that they are usually so agile and delightful.
A story about an impish boy and his lively animal friends. 》
Early morning, Peter opens the gate and comes to the green meadow in front of his house. His friend, a lovely beautiful bird sings gracefully on the branch. “What kind of bird are you if you can’t fly?” she mocks at the duck while seeing her walking on the meadow.
The cute little duck dives into the pond and mocks back “What kind of bird are you if you can’t swim?”
“Look out!” Peter shouts at them while he notices that his naughty pet cat is crawling to the tree secretly, trying to catch the bird while she’s arguing.
As Peter’s grandpa wakes up, he is so angry and worried to see that Peter stays outside of the house: “If a wolf should come out of the forest, then what would you do?”
But of course, the brave young Peter pays no attention to the warning, boys like him won’t be afraid of the wolves!
When Peter sees a big grey wolf comes to the meadow from the forest and swallows the duck, Peter grabs the strong rope from home and climbs up to the tree with the bird and the cat. He works with his two friends to catch the wolf with the rope.
Meanwhile, here comes the hunters who are following the wolf’s footprints.
“Don’t shoot!” Peter exclaims, “we’ve already caught the wolf. Now help us take it to the zoo!”
When grandpa comes out to the meadow again, he is amazed by Peter’s cleverness.
Now, if you hear carefully enough, you could hear the duck quacking inside the wolf, because he was too hasty that he swallows the duck alive.
The characters represented by the musical instruments. 》
The most fascinating part of “Peter and the Wolf” is that an instrument family represents each of the characters.
The flute represents the birds tweeting; the oboe performs as the duck quacking; the clarinet using the staccato rhythm performs the sneaky cat.
The timpani and bass drum represent the hunters while the three horns perform the wolf.
Bassoon represents grandpa to show his verbose character. And last but not the least, the refreshing string quartet performs the clever little Peter.
Amazing young dancers from 10 years ago. 》
The performance I watched during this quarantine was presented by the Royal Opera House’s Royal Ballet School in 2010 (Discover the handpicked quarantine theatre schedule).
It had already been 10 years since this production was on stage, all the dancers had already become the stars without any doubt.
Kilian Smith absolutely created a confident Peter, his attitude successfully brought out Peter’s bold and fearless character. Will Kemp also performed a grumpy yet worrying grandpa. His narration throughout the performance dragged the audiences into the scene.
My favourite part of this version’s “Peter and the Wolf” is Laurine Muccioli‘s little bird. Her smile was so captivating and the way how she danced was also spirited.
As for the wolf, Sergei Polunin, one of the most fierce male ballerinas I adore. Even though I feel like the wolf could be more powerful and ferocious, Sergei’s facial expression was extremely enthralling and on point! He created a vicious wolf for sure.
A fairytale for all. 》
Because of how the musical instruments create distinctive personalities for each character, adults also adore it even though “Peter and the Wolf” is a production aiming at children.
10 years later, these dancers already become successful in their career; I wonder how many children in the auditorium also chase their dream to become a ballerina?
