The LA Opera's world premiere production of Tobias Picker's
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" is a delightfully
funny morality play in a fantastical cartoon like setting. The stage
is framed in a proscenium arch with cartoon pictures of the three
farmers, chickens, and geese. The set is a revolving hill side. On
one side is the foxes's den, the other has the shacks of the three
farmers. We first meet Mrs. Fox, who enters in the audience. She
tells us about her family, then goes up on stage to her fox hole, and
her four children sing a beautiful quartet. Mr. Fox shows us that he
has the longest, slimmest nose, most perfectly pointed ears,
brightest eyes, and the bushiest tail. He's the most exquisite animal
in the forest, and lets everyone know. In this story, the animals
display all of the most noble qualities, love, friendship, and
loyalty, while the humans display only meanness, gluttony,
selfishness, and brutality. Louis Lebherz is the huge Farmer Boggis.
He's as big around as five people, from eating a dozen or so of his
chickens a day. He argues with Bunce over which is better his
chickens or Bunce's geese. While they bicker, Bean enters, reminding
them that only money matters. Mr. Fox has been stealing their
products, Bean has found the fox hole, and they lie in wait to kill
the fox.
The second act opens with a beautiful children's chorus. They are
dressed in dark and white striped clothing that looks like bark, with
some holding branches as they all come together to form a tree. Their
song is about what does a tree see of the relations between humans,
animals, and nature. We move to Mr. Fox fretting over his tail stub
in the mirror. The Farmers have made him a rifle Manx, and he is
certain no one will respect him anymore without his tail. Mrs. Fox
and the cubs
reassure him, however. The Farmers, meanwhile have brought in Mavis
the Tractor and Agnes the
Earthmover to dig up the foxes den. Agnes is a dragon like creature
with a flyshaft, a big jaws-like
digger on top, lights that shine like eyes, and it breaths fire
through two nostrils. When they all get
near the foxhole, the Foxes and their friends, Badger and Burrowing
Mole dig deeper into the hill, as the animals escape.
In Act 3 the Farmers and their machines are in the dug out hillside.
The tree is still on top, but the
roots are exposed behind the Farmers. The Foxes are in their new
home, but Mrs. Fox is sad
because her home has been destroyed. Mr. Fox laments that "we've
a natural gift for forest life that
humans lost long ago." They persevere and overcome their
difficulties. Josepha Gayer's Rita the
Rat sings to us of the intelligence of her species. She sings of the
philosophy of Spinoza, and arrives
for the Foxes' housewarming party in a graduation cap and gown, with
her long Rat's nose, long
fingers, and tail that she swishes around. Miss Hedgehog and Mr.
Porcupine spy each other across
the room, and it's love at first sight. The spines stand up on her
back and they sing a beautiful duet
about "our quills will turn gray and fall out, but we'll be
together forever, snout to snout." Mr. and
Mrs. Fox do a two step across the stage before we switch back to the
Farmers and their machines
in the big hole that they might still be in. This opera is
exquisitely choreographed. The animals move
gracefully and precisely. The Foxes are sleek and sensual in their
movements. They preen
themselves and each other, while Boggis and Bunce waddle and Bean
goosestips. We have
fantastic costumes of geese, the animals, and a headless chicken
lurching around the stage. This
opera has a rich appreciation of nature and all life. The humans are
definitely the odd ones here.
Gerald Scarfe's costumes and stage designs show the personality of
each character. The Foxes are
sleek and elegant, the Hedgehog bristling. Visually the farmers
reflect their vices. Librettist Donald
Sturrock directed and Peter Ash led the orchestra in this enchanting
world premiere production of
"Fantastic Mr. Fox."
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