By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
photo by Tim Fuller
Kathleen Cannon is the Aviator (top, center) with ensemble members Julia Balestracci (top, left) and Gretchen Wirges (top, right) and Lance Guzman (bottom) as the aviator's airplane.
Appreciating the importance of seeing with your heart is essential to connecting with the magic and philosophy in the Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre's free-range production of the imagination-stretching classic “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
First published in 1943 when Saint-Exupery was in New York working on behalf of the Free French during the darkest hours of World War II, “The Little Prince” has subsequently blossomed around the world – with translations in more than 300 languages and dialects for an estimated 400 million readers.
Tucson's own Claire Marie Mannle provided a new translation, which Holly Griffith has adapted and directed, casting Kathleen Cannon as the thoughtful Aviator who crashed her plane in the empty Sahara desert. An ensemble cast of seven play all the other roles.
Several actors take their turn donning the regal robe to portray the Little Prince as he recounts a string of adventures on various heavenly bodies in outer space.
Members of the ensemble are Ryuto Adamson, Julia Balestracci, Gabriella De Brequet, Nicole DelPrete, Lance Guzman, Cole Potwardowski and Gretchen Wirges.
Enriching the experience is the improvisation-filled piano accompaniment played onstage by Felice Torralba.
The set-up begins with the Aviator telling about her own early life, then how she grew up to be a pilot who remains suspicious of adults that have lost their childlike sense of wonder.
On this unfortunate flight she is forced to land in the empty Sahara. Here she discovers the Little Prince has also landed, seemingly from outer space with no adverse effects, and is eager to tell his story.
Enriching this theater experience is the improvisation-filled, on-stage piano accompaniment by Felice Torralba.
The story is told simply, often feeling like a series of parables, as this diminutive member of royalty discovers fanciful situations at every galactic outpost he visits. One has only a single inhabitant, a cranky king, who commands the most obvious events to occur.
Another planet has life-threatening plants that must be kept under constant control. Another is home to an obsessed businessman who counts all the stars and then declares himself the owner of each one.
Then there is the geographer who insists his responsibility is not to go exploring but only to report what the explorers have discovered.
But no matter how unlikely each place may seem, Saint-Exupery has filled the commentary of the Little Prince with the most remarkable insights.
The true marvel of this telling is how there are wise observations intended to enlighten the children as well as deeper, more complicated observations for the parents, and any other adults who might be in the audience.
Yet, all the language remains direct and clear, with a kind of innocence that will speak to your heart. At the performance I attended, there were a couple of grade school kids sitting down front. They barely moved the entire time, about 90 minutes without an intermission.
S&S artistic director Bryan Falcon recommends “The Little Prince” for “children, and grown-ups who can remember that they were children once.”
Performances continue in the Scoundrel & Scamp Theatre at the Historic Y, 738 N. Fifth Ave., at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through Nov. 3 – with an additional matinee at 2 p.m. on Nov. 2. All tickets are $30, with discounts available.
For details and reservations, 448-3300, or scoundrelandscamp.org
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