De Gruffalo (4+)
To avoid ending up on the menus of Fox, Owl and Snake, Little Mouse invents the terrifying Gruffalo: a creature with orange eyes, a tongue as black as coal and purple spikes. Fortunately, Mouse knows that the Gruffalo doesn’t really exist. Or does he? When Mouse and the more than real Gruffalo visit the other animals together, the monster wrongly assumes that they're all afraid of the tiny little mouse and quickly flees into the woods himself. For the Gruffalo - a classic by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler - conductor and composer Iván Fischer wrote the music in which surprise and recognition go hand in hand. In a setting full of colourful illustrations seven singers play and narrate this funny and thrilling musical story for children from the age of 4, in rhyming Dutch translation. So, who's afraid of whom exactly? CREDITS Text & images: Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler Composition: Iván Fischer Conductor: Filip Rathé Ensemble: SPECTRA Soloists: Franches Dhont (mouse), Anna Nuyten (snake), Lars Corijn (fox), Bruno De Jonghe (owl), Wouter Vande Ginste (gruffalo), Lissa Meyvis (storyteller 1), Leander van Gijsegem (storyteller 2) Musicians: Korneel Alsteens/Luk Nielandt (hobo), Nico Couck (gitaar), Cédric De Bruycker (clarinet), Lukas Huisman (piano), Francis Mourey (cello), Frank Van Eycken (percussion), Tille Van Gastel (flute), Wim Van Volsem (fagot), Pieter Vandermeiren (trombone), Anne Zeuwts (harp) Sound technician: Yannick Willox Lighting Design: Yannick Verweij Stage Director: Birgit Eckenweber Set- and Costume Design: Sabine Lindner Costume workshop: Kathleen Van Mechelen, Cindy Dierckx Dramaturgy: Gabriele Nellessen Video Design: Uwe Meurer Production: SPECTRA Co-production: DE SINGEL, Concertgebouw Brugge, Perpodium
