Other Theatrical Snow Queen Productions (Pt 6) :Triad Stage's Appalachian "Snow Queen" (I Heart This So Very Much!)

Snow Queen poster for Triad Stage by Tom Woods of Bluezoom Advertising, Design, Chemistry

The final production in this varied theatrical round-up is my favorite find of them all (which is why I've given it it's own post - apart from it being long anyway, due to all the amazing images).

Taking a moment here to appreciate the poster: I haven't seen anyone approach the Snow Queen character (or story) quite this way in illustration! It emphasizes the natural aspect of the Snow Queen as well as how far her reach is. Somehow it's both comforting and foreboding. And notice Gerda's footsteps? (In this production it's Gertie.) They cross the crack the Snow Queen has made in the landscape - that's powerful imagery. Brilliant!

Not only is it a new production that debuted in December 2013 but it's an Appalachian take on The Snow Queen, which I just love. Triad Stage's Snow Queen was created as part of the company's mission to promote the local regional voice and flavor of telling stories in their productions, and that includes not only the design style, but the storytelling style and the musical aspect as well.

Part of the mission of Triad Stage, the ambitious American resident theatre headquartered in Greensboro, NC, is to promote a regional voice — reviving or creating stage literature that reflects the color and heritage of the Carolinas and the South.

Promotional image for Triad Stage's Snow Queen

Promotional image for Triad Stage's Snow Queen

The result makes for a very folkloric approach (a folkloric approach to a fairy tale seems obvious but it's actually more unique that you'd think - and very cool). First of all, just look at the empty stage:

Maybe it's my theater roots but I'm transported into a wonder world just with this (please transport me there immediately!). But it gets better.

While the promotional images are nice I think the production photographs are simply spectacular! Just one or two of these would have sent me running to get a ticket. I'd dearly love to see this show taken on tour. 

There's so much wonderful work here and I you don't need to be "one of the local folk" to appreciate how special this is.I'm not going to bother putting them "in order" as it's really not necessary to enjoy them and besides, I realized seeing them this way makes you think of the aspects of HCA's story in a different way again.

As a bonus, here are some pre-production drawings, showing some of the thinking behind the style.

Congratulations Triad Stage! This is breathtaking.

There's a great article HERE on the music created for the show, including links to a couple of the songs to give you an auditory taste.

In the meantime. if you'd like to see this show tour as well, drop by the Triad Stage webpage, or their Facebook page, and leave a comment to that effect. 

I think people everywhere would find this beautiful, fascinating and, as a result, it could run for a long, long time.

Disney's First Russian Film is a Fairy Tale

Note the 2nd: This entry was supposed to post yesterday and I only just realized I had saved but not published - sorry! I'm updating the time references so it makes sense when you read it today (Wednesday).

Note: I see SurLaLune has posted on this topic yesterday too with lots of great links so I'm adjusting my content to minimize the overlap. Be sure to check out Heidi's entry HERE for more information about the film.

After dealing with ongoing Russian resistance to Disney show 'products', The Walt Disney Company have smartly opted for producing an all-Russian cast-and-crew (including some of their most famous and popular actors) family fairy tale film to help smooth the way into the market. With the Russian penchant for home-grown over Hollywood, (as they should - they have an incredibly rich and diverse culture, folklore and history, not to mention volumes of amazing fairy tales), this seems like a good way to help Disney find even more acceptance than they've had to date.Their first piece of Russian film-making will be released tomorrow in Russia (October 29th) and is a fantasy film based on Russian fairy tales and folklore. The title is Книга мастеров (Kniga Masterov) and is translated as The Book of Masters. Unfortunately, the English title translation doesn't appear to capture the spirit of the film at all. Instead of letting the title mar your impression, it may help to remember that a lot of Russian tales tend toward the epic or grand scale when it comes to characters and events. From Russia Info Center:

The Book of Masters is a sort of a potpourri, where characters from Russian folklore, and Pushkin’s and Bazhov’s fairy tales are brought together.

Just take a look at some of these photos here to see what I mean. There's also been one preview scene released that people are calling 'very Lord of the Rings' where the Stone Queen creates an army of stone golems. (You can see that scene HERE.)I've also included some traditional Russian folk art in this post, in amongst the movie scenes from their lovely old fairy tale Ivan and the Firebird, so you can see where some of the inspiration for the characters, designs and ideas come from (there's a note on the influence of Ivan Bilibin further down the post).The posters (and title) are, without doubt, typical live-action Disney in style but there may be more Russian artistic influence than appears in the marketing.

For instance, this trailer here, while still looking a little 'Disney-esque' to me, makes lovely use of illustrative art (echoing the fabulous work of famous Russian illustrator Ivan Bilibin - you can see an illustrated biography HERE which shows you his style), to fade into the scenes. The other trailers I've seen don't seem to use this technique, but if the film includes any transitions or storytelling techniques like this, it makes me all the more interested in seeing it.


Sources: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE (interesting info on the Director at this link) and HERE (quotes from the Russian filmmakers as they started production at this link).