Fairies in Lampshades & A Forest of Forks - Meet Compagnie Akselere's Sleeping Beauty

This would have to be the most unusual theatrical retelling of The Sleeping Beauty I've seen in some time. Perrault is credited as the source author while Liverpool-born, French artist and puppeteer Colette Garriger is the creator & main performer. The show is just arriving in the US now after an lengthy international tour, with performances scheduled from September 2010 on.
Here's the official blurb:

At her birth they call her "Princess." Her fate is sealed. Left to her own devices and brilliant imagination, this modern day Princess pays off her debts and takes her skeletons out of the cupboard once and for all. Now arriving in the United States after an international tour comes a creative retelling of the Briar Rose tale joining shadow puppetry, object theater, and passionate monologue into a hard-hitting story filled with dark humor.Created by Liverpool-born, French-transplant artist and puppeteer Colette Garrigan.

* Funded in part by a Jim Henson Foundation Presenter's Grant (2010)

And excerpted from a review on Australian Stage:

This version of Sleeping Beauty is closer to a nightmare than a fairytale. A girl grows up in a poor family in Liverpool, England. She is the youngest of seven. Her father dies. She gets farmed out to her grandmother who locks her in the cupboard under the stairs. She steals and thinks it is so exciting to be going in a police car that she waves to all the people she knows. She meets boys who lead her astray. And she knows she is a princess and that prince charming will arrive - even if it is in the form of a medical miracle.From the mind of creator and puppeteer Colette Garrigan comes a passionate monologue with shadow puppets about the loss of innocence and reality versus fairytale.... Garrigan is very much centre stage, and creates the shadow puppets primarily from herself and various unusual objects on the table in the centre of the stage. Forks become a forest, a toaster rack a shopping centre, all projected onto the white semi transparent screen hung at the back. This is not puppetry as most would know it, with only one brief scene using small hand operated puppets that are ingeniously fitted into a lampshade.

You can read the whole article HERE and see more performance photos from the company site HERE.

Kelley Lubsen's 'The Seven Swans' and Other Fairy Tale Art

A recent lovely fairy tale discovery on deviantArt, this picture of the Seven Swans is so beautiful I wish I could get a copy for my wall (one of all-time my favorite tales and I grew up with a single book with '7' swans as opposed to the six or twelve that were included in the fairy tale collections). You can see a much larger version with deviantArt stamp HERE.

You can definitely see the Trina Schart Hyman influence (one of my favorite illustrators and apparently one of hers,according to her bio on deviantArt) and I don't think that's a bad thing at all. In fact, more please!

The artist, Kelley Lubsen, known as FAyliN on deviantArt, is a recent graduate of University of the Arts (May 2010) and while she doesn't have a huge gallery on deviantArt it's worth taking a look all the same (click HERE). Fortunately, she also has an online gallery with her latest work HERE including some pieces from the Three Little Pigs and Peter Pan (see small examples at left & a HUGE version HERE, noting you'll have to scroll down a long way to find them). It's a little brighter and still lovely (though I adore the muted tones myself) and the truly gorgeous colored pencil work continues.

I do hope she continues to pursue fairy tale illustration and wish her the best of luck in her career.

Mermaids and Oil Spills

OPINION ALERT!
Plus controversial images and story below:

Vogue Italia has shot a controversial 'oil spill inspired' fashion editorial, complete with models (in their very expensive oil-covered clothes) simulating animals in distress. The image below in particular made me think this is what mermaids might look like (albeit it 'glamorized' in horrible positions) if they were real and having to cope with the recent oil spill tragedy. There are many other images, one which I found rather disturbing (which kind of looked like a mermaid coughing up oil) so I'll just stick with the cover and the one above for the blog.

You may ask why I'm posting this, especially since I was bothered by the spread, and my answer is this: I think it's an important issue to think about. Not all stories are nice - not the real ones, not fairy tales - but they're still something we should consider. Imagine the little mermaid's journey complicated by such a disaster. It's not so far fetched from what's actually been happening. Stories can help us work through issues that are too difficult in real life to properly face and to consider the mermaid angle is, I think, good brain food. Does it distance the tragedy? Or does it make us more passionate in our efforts to protect the environment and the earth's creatures? Perhaps putting a human (albeit mermaid here) face on the victims* may make us more conscious of our actions in future. [*Note: the victims do in fact include humans - many have lost their homes and livelihoods as a result of the disaster, not to mention the initial tragedy of workers killed.]

I won't make any more personal comments except to say I completely get the controversy over this.

You can go HERE see the entire spread via Refinery29.com and make sure to read the short post. Also note the links to help clean up and the comments written below by different points of view (neither are affiliated with Vogue Italia).

Via Super Punch.

Rapunzel in Legos

For Lego enthusiasts, please note the concentric rings used in this construction (wow!). Seriously awesome brick building and tale telling all in one go.

From The Brothers Brick:

Jordan Schwartz (Sir Nadroj) built a very bright interpretation of Rapunzel’s tower. The technique of stacking concentric rings to create a conical tower is very clever, and the effect is one of a kind. The creation looks deceptively smaller than its actual size, which is actually 3 feet tall.

The top level of the tower is modeled after the Peles Castle in Romania while the round part of the tower was based on a Lego design by Deborah Higden (you can see the Rapunzel tower designer's initial questions about the ring construction in the comments).

This 'MOC' (standing for 'My Own [Lego ] Creation') also got a write-up in Issue 10 of the official BrickJournal magazine, meaning the creator (and the fairy tale creation) were both recognized for the feat of 'brick engineering' it is.

You can see more detailed images HERE and see more creations by 17 year old 'Brick Master' Jordan Schwartz (pictured above) HERE.

Fairy Tale Art by Pat Brennan

Goldilocks and the Bears

For your viewing pleasure I'm posting just a few of the fairy tale themed work by digital artist/illustrator Pat Brennan (on deviantArt as moonmomma). The Goldilocks one at the head of the post remains one of my favorites, since seeing it a few years ago.

The Piper

Cinders in the Limelight

The Princess and the Pea

Yuki Onna

Undine

She has a LOT of gorgeous work in her deviantArt gallery, mostly fantasy based (lots of fairies and mermaids) so be sure to visit, take a look and leave a nice comment (and maybe hint how great it would be to see even more fairy tale pieces.. hint, hint). You can also visit her website HERE and her Flickr account HERE.

The talent must run in the family. Her daughter, Rebecca Parker, is just breaking into the book cover illustration biz too.

I'd love to see Pat work on a specific fairy tale project for a book herself though. She has such a lovely touch. While she does do commissions I gather she's very busy, so if you want to work with her be persistent in trying to contact her and let me know if you work together.

Zachary Levi Quotes "The Little Mermaid"

This one is for Disney fairy tale fans.

Zachary Levi (who is the voice of Flynn in Disney's upcoming fairy tale film Tangled) talks about what to expect on the 3rd Season of ABC's Chuck and ends up quoting The Little Mermaid...

(Note: email subscribers, you will need to go to the website to see the video)

Cinderella Gets A Live-Action 'Reboot' (& More)

The writer of The Devil Wears Prada recently had her live-action Cinderella pitch bought by Disney.

From The Wrap:

Using the working title "Cinderella," the film is expected to deviate from the original fairy tale, although it's unclear how, or whether the new version will be released in 3D like the studio's reimagining of "Alice in Wonderland," which has grossed more than a billion dollars since it was released in March.

(You can read the whole article HERE.)

Amanda Seyfried-Raymond (of Mama Mia, who is currently at work with Twilight director on another fairy tale, The Girl with the Red Riding Hood) is rumored to be the star. (see article HERE and IMDB's article HERE).

You'll also see rumors in the articles linked to above regarding Angeline Jolie's rumored attachment to play the lead in Disney's other live-action fairy tale revisit, Maleficent - a live-action Sleeping Beauty.

But that's not all. Snow White is looking at a live-action revisit with the seven dwarves being cast as robbers once again, plus a dragon (not by Disney but a company called Relativity Media). The Wizard of Oz is looking at a revisit too by both Warner Brothers and Disney once again.

[Sidenote: if you enjoy speculating on actresses playing other Disney princesses and why they may - or may not - fit, have a look at this faux casting couch HERE.]

And yes - this is all due to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, so you can thank (or blame) him. ;)

Hansel & Gretel Meet Avatar and Transformers?

The degrees of separation between Grimm's Hansel & Gretel and the hit movie Avatar has just gone from 'lots' to '0'. Announced at the end of last month, Avatar lead character designer Joseph C. Pepe will be on the team, specifically designing the witch and additional creatures from German mythology that are being added to the plot and landscape of the film.

From VFXPlanet:

In addition to the infamous witch in the gingerbread house, the film showcases the legendary creatures of German mythology. These Teutonic beings will be designed by Joseph C. Pepe, the lead character designer from Avatar. The film is live action.

Not only that, the Director is Transformers own Michael Bay (also of Pearl Harbor and Armageddon). We are being told to expect: "a 3D action packed visual FX experience."

Hansel and Gretel is currently scheduled for a shoot on location in Germany for spring next year, and to be released at the end of 2011. (source: Dominion)

While some people seem a little dubious about all this, and about all the fairy tale films expected to pop up in the wake of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland, I think it has a lot of potential. We'll just have to wait and see...

Note: Click on images to be taken to the sources.

Re Disney's "Tangled": Stop Worrying. It's Good.

Since Tangled was already on my radar today I was reminded of some old news (from the end of May) about how the movie is turning out.

From a Disney forum, the post was titled: "I just saw Tangled! Stop worrying. It's good."
Here are a few little excerpts from the post and replies (there are pages of them):

Even in this rough form, it is a VERY entertaining movie, and the audience was laughing their butts off at the gags (even the ones still on storyboard) and was very engrossed in the exciting stuff...

There are some GORGEOUS set-pieces in the works. We had to use our imaginations, but we could tell where they were going. They're gonna be stunning, especially this one thing near the end that I refuse to spoil for you.

Those who were disappointed in the musical numbers in The Princess and the Frog ... Get ready, cause they're about to make it up to you. WONDERFUL songs. At least two of them are Oscar worthy IMHO. One in particular, which involves a tavern full of assorted dangerous scoundrel-types singing about their secret dreams in life, has the potential to be a personal favorite of mine, not to mention a stone-cold classic. It is hee-larious!... it is a crowd-pleaser, fun for all ages and all sexes (yes, boys too, so FORCE them to go see it), lots of laughs, wonderful music, and potentially fabulous art direction. I absolutely can't wait to see the finished product.

Especially where in the heck they're going to put all that dang hair in each scene.

>>A dear friend told me that humor isn't à la Shrek or à la Princess and the Frog (for Princess, humor was too slapstick and there is too toilet humor) and in Tangled humor is intelligent... Do you agree?<<

Not exactly. There's a LOT of slapstick. Rapunzel herself swings a mean frying pan.You can't generalize about the humor too much - there's a variety here. Nothing particularly scatological that I can recall. But there is a lot of slapstick. Very funny slapstick. I enjoyed it, and I'm not much of a Three Stooges or Tom and Jerry fan.

I failed to mention that R has a pet chameleon (non-talking). He's the source of a lot of the gentler humor, and is one of the least obnoxious Disney sidekicks ever (the non-talking thing has a lot to do with that IMHO). There's also this horse that I think is going to be a big hit.

There's a little bit of pop culturism related to the ruffians in the tavern - nothing too distracting IMHO. Certainly nothing Shrekkish. They play the fairy tale vibe pretty straight, although the plot bears only superficial resemblance to the original Rapunzel story.Romantic? Yes, but I don't recall the mushy stuff getting as much screen time as in the Menkin-Ashman flicks. This movie is heavier on the action.

>>would you say the overall storyline follows the fractured fairy tale idea, or is it more like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which takes existing characters and creates a new (albeit entirely appropriate for the characters and situations) story around them, much like a sequel might?<<

I'd say it's a whole new story that uses elements from the Rapunzel fairy tale as a jumping off point. It's a straight fairytale-style adventure - not a satire.

You can read the whole discussion board HERE.

Disney Feature Animation is obviously a lot further a long in production right now and remains on target for the Thanksgiving release (note the 'date' on new teaser poster in the previous post) so fingers crossed.

New "Tangled" Teaser Poster from Disney + Some Development Art

Lots of hair...

(click image for a larger view):

The vibe is 'mischievous'. Think it will grab the boys attention? Personally I'd like to see more of the fencing horse, as in, a horse with a sword (artwork below).

Here's a reminder of the synopsis:And below is some uncredited development art that's been released (though much of it it looks like Glen Keane's work). I'm just posting a small selection. You can see a whole lot more HERE. I see a "lather, rinse, repeat" regarding some of the motifs (most of which I did not include here) - I'll leave you to discover what I mean by that - but I'm guessing it's supposed to be a tribute to the classics.Looking forward to seeing what they do with the chameleon. I hope he still doesn't talk by the time it gets to the big screen.This one below is lovely, although again a 'tribute' sort of piece to the classics and yes, there's a book for the beginning too - at least in the development art. That makes me happy. :) The mosaic is gorgeous.Again, you can see a whole lot more behind-the-scenes art HERE.

In case you missed it on the SurLaLune Blog, here's a behind-the-scenes featurette recently released by Disney on creating Tangled.


Sources for poster HERE and development artwork HERE.