Pinocchio

Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s Italian serial for children, Pinocchio follows a precocious marionette who dreams of being real. A series of adventures with colourful characters like the wise Blue Fairy and mischievous Fox and Cat shape Pinocchio’s experience of the world and teach him valuable lessons about the virtues of honesty, kindness and hard work. Along the way, Pinocchio’s bond with the gentle lumberjack, Geppetto, grows (along with Pinocchio’s nose when he lies!) until he becomes human at last.

Act I

In the forest a tree has been chopped down.

Geppetto and his fellow Lumberjacks are unable to cut it until a Blue Fairy hands Geppetto a magic axe. The tree is split and a little wooden boy – Pinocchio – is revealed. The Lumberjacks are alarmed. The Blue Fairy entrusts the wooden boy to Geppetto’s care, telling Pinocchio that if he tries to be good, one day he might become a real boy.

A Schoolmistress is leading her pupils to class.

Geppetto is eager for Pinocchio to learn. The Schoolmistress is doubtful – and Pinocchio has no book. The Blue Fairy magics one up. Pinocchio sets off to school. A Puppet Show arrives in town. Instead of going to school Pinocchio is distracted by the Puppet Show. He swaps his schoolbook for a ticket. The book flies away. At the Puppet Show Pinocchio causes a sensation. The Puppet Master rewards him with five gold coins.

A Cat and a Fox have noticed all this.

They befriend Pinocchio and take him to the Red Lobster Inn. Lumberjacks and some illegal animals are enjoying a drink. Geppetto is desperately trying to find Pinocchio. The Cat and the Fox make sure he does not. When a Mountie enters the inn everybody scatters – leaving Pinocchio to pay the bill.

Pinocchio is lost in Assassin’s Wood.

He ignores advice and warnings. The Cat and the Fox disguised as assassins attempt to rob him but are driven off by Magic Blue Birds.

Some Rabbits take Pinocchio to the Blue Fairy’s house.

The Blue Fairy and Pinocchio are re-united but Pinocchio tells a lie. His nose grows. When Pinocchio promises to be truthful Magic Blue Birds peck it back to size. The Blue Fairy magically shows Pinocchio how Geppetto is searching for him everywhere. Pinocchio asks to go and find him. The Blue Fairy allows him on the condition he does not wander from the path.

In the Forest Pinocchio meets the Cat and the Fox.

They lure him from the path, telling him he could be rich if he plants his money in the Field of Miracles where it will grow in to a Money Tree. Pinocchio follows their advice and falls asleep, dreaming of wealth. The Cat and the Fox dig up the money and run away.

Pinocchio wakes up.

There is no Money Tree and no money. The Blue Fairy urges Pinocchio to hurry to the seashore where Geppetto is setting out in a boat to look for him. A storm is brewing. Geppetto’s boat capsizes and Pinocchio leaps into the sea to save him but they cannot quite reach one another.

Act II

Washed up on the shore Pinocchio resolves to try harder.

He goes back to school but soon he and his fellow pupils are lured off to a place called Funland where no work is ever done. While having lots of fun Pinocchio and his fellow pupils are transformed into donkeys and are auctioned off to businessmen to toil on farms and in factories forever. With the help of some balloons Pinocchio manages to escape from Funland but tumbles into the sea where fish nibble off his donkey skin.

Pinocchio is swallowed by a whale.

Inside the whale Pinocchio is reunited with Geppetto. And some other characters he has met on his travels.

Pinocchio has a brilliant idea!

He gets everybody to help him build a raft from the various things that the whale has swallowed. They sail on the raft out of the whale and head home. Safe on dry land everybody is pleased to see Pinocchio and Geppetto. The Blue Fairy arrives and casts a spell.

Pinocchio becomes a real boy.

— Alasdair Middleton

• Actors perform speaking roles called the Narrators who help to guide Pinocchio through his journey to being real.
  
  
• Will Tuckett pays homage to Canada with endearing references to lumberjacks, Mounties, beavers, raccoons and even a pair of Niagara Falls tourists.
  
  
• In this production, Geppetto is a lonely lumberjack who discovers Pinocchio inside a felled tree, rather than carving him from wood in a workshop.
  
  
• In one episode, Pinocchio attends a puppet show that alludes to the 1911 ballet Petrushka by the Ballets Russes, which tells of three puppets who come to life.
  
  
• Pinocchio has no shortage of visual splendour, from video projections to flying on wires, swimming, driving a car and, of course, Pinocchio’s growing nose!

A Visual Feast: Pinocchio
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Will Tuckett, the acclaimed English choreographer and director, is renowned for combining theatre and dance to imaginative effect. His works include the award-winning The Wind in the Willows for the Royal Opera House and The Canterville Ghost for English National Ballet. Tuckett also creates for theatre, musicals and feature films.

English composer Paul Englishby draws from numerous sources in his original score, from jazz to West End musicals, classical music and even Canada’s national anthem. Each character has a unique theme, like Pinocchio’s woodwind motif or the syncopated rhythms for the Cat and Fox, providing structure to the episodic plot.

Choreography:
Will Tuckett

Music: 
Paul Englishby

Librettist and Dramaturge: 
Alasdair Middleton

Set and Costume Design: 
Colin Richmond

Lighting Design: 
Oliver Fenwick

Projection Design: 
Douglas O’Connell

Staged by:
Lindsay Fischer

World Premiere: The National Ballet of Canada, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto, March 11, 2017

A co-production of The National Ballet of Canada and Texas Ballet Theatre.

Lead philanthropic support for Pinocchio is provided by The Walter Carsen New Creations Fund. Additional support is provided by Rosamond Ivey, Tim & Frances Price, an anonymous friend, The Volunteer Committee of The National Ballet of Canada and The Producers’ Circle. 

The Producers’ Circle (2017): Gail & Mark Appel, John & Claudine Bailey, Inger Bartlett & Marshal Stearns, Susanne Boyce & Brendan Mullen, Gail Drummond & Bob Dorrance, The Thor E. and Nicole Eaton Family Charitable Foundation, Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan, Kevin Garland & Roger Garland, C.M., Emmanuelle Gattuso, C.M. and Allan Slaight, C.M., The William & Nona Heaslip Foundation, Rosamond Ivey, Hal Jackman Foundation, Anna McCowan-Johnson & Donald K. Johnson, O.C., Judy Korthals & Peter Irwin, Judith & Robert Lawrie, Mona & Harvey Levenstein,  Jerry Lozinski, O.C. & Joan Lozinski, O.C., The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., Julie Medland,  Sandra Pitblado, C.M. & Jim Pitblado, C.M., Lynda & Jonas Prince, Susan Scace & Arthur Scace, C.M., Q.C., Gerald Sheff & Shanitha Kachan, Sandra Simpson and Noreen Taylor, C.M. & David Staines, C.M., O.Ont.