Carol Ann Duffy & BalletLORENT Create a Spellbinding Rapunzel

I mentioned this contemporary ballet production briefly on Facebook a while back but it keeps appearing in the news - with good reason, so it's about time I wrote a proper post.

More and more positive critical response is appearing as people see BalletLORENT's new full-length work, Rapunzel (currently on tour in the UK). They're also taking note of the star-studded creative team aboard this project as well (finally!).

There was a considerable period of research time spent during the creation of Rapunzel, in conjunction with the world-famous Sadlers Wells Ballet Company and the project attracted some diverse world class talent as a result. BalletLORENT has a very good reputation in contemporary dance circles but beyond that the production boasts the talents of:

• Carol Ann Duffy  - multi-award winning poet, writer and playwright as well as having been appointed British poet laureate in 2009 (and whom should be known specifically to regular blog readers here for her work with fairy tales)
• Murray Gold - composer for Doctor Who
• Michele Clapton - costume designer for Game of Thrones
• Lesley Sharp - award winning British actress for film and TV (she is Narrator for the ballet)
• Phil Eddolls -  Commonwealth and Olympic Games set designer

And many more..! (You can see the full creative contributors HERE.)
Take a look at the promo video. It's beautiful, unusual and interesting.

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(The First?) "Fables Encyclopedia" Release Day

Dust cover art for Fables Encyclopedia

It's release day for the highly anticipated Fables Encyclopedia today, and it sounds better than I could have hoped for. Covering issues 1 to 121 (and including 1001 Night of Snowfall) the book promises an excellent read, including more information on both characters and stories (and you know Willingham will be adding notes on obscure fairy tales and folklore he's included as well).

Since I'm not able to go get a copy for myself just yet, I'm going to re-blog a review by Kurt Isensee aka The Iceman from Geeks Of Doom.

Since Fables issues already numbers well into 130+  and have many (many!) spin-offs, which aren't mentioned as being covered in this volume, it should be safe to assume that a second encyclopedia is already underway/under consideration.

The Fables Encyclopedia, by Jess Nevins, covers issues 1 – 121, and 1001 Nights of Snowfall. After only a few pages, it became clear to me that this is an indispensible tome, serving to compliment, and enhance the issues it covers. Hopefully, there’ll be a second volume in another decade or so. 

It’s loaded with panels from the comics, helping to refresh memories for more obscure characters, and includes enriching sidebar comments from Bill Willingham — check out his notes on the Hope character — cryptically cool! Plus, there are also fourteen pages of issue by issue annotations, as well as lots of behind-the-scenes tidbits, and clever revelations, such as artist Mark Buckingham’s inspiration for Tom Harrow. 

The sheer depth of the Fables Encyclopedia serves as a demonstration/reminder (as if the monthly comic wasn’t enough) as to just how well-read Willingham is, especially with regards to fairy tales/mythology from a number of cultures. It’s also testament to the staggering achievement in comics literature that is Fables. 

Well before the halfway mark, this encyclopedia made me want to go back and re-read my Fables trades. 

So I did. 

Highly recommended.

Notes and annotations!! *swoon*

Summary: it's awesome aka I will be getting one ASAP.

List price is $39.99. (Amazon currently has it for $25.29 for the hardcover and the Kindle edition for $22.99).

Fairy Tale Villains Do the "Spell Block Tango"

Todrick Hall's "Spell Block Tango"

Note: I meant to post this yesterday but time got away from me, (I always wish I could clone myself a few times during Halloween week!), so apologies for not alerting you before it went viral. 

This is another musical gem from Todrick Hall*, creator of Cinderonce, and is very fun. Not only is it extremely well done, it's great to hear the villainess' (ahem, including Scar) "arguing their POV", Chicago style. It's in perfect keeping with the current trend of retelling stories from the villains point of view (and it makes me want to see Chicago re-done with fairy tale characters).

The lyrics have been adjusted for each character and the Queen of Hearts' plea of "not guilty" is priceless.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, The Spell Block Tango.

Enjoy.

Kind of genius, really. I can't wait to see what Todrick Hall will do next!

* A former American Idol finalist turned actor and filmmaker, Hall has become known for his YouTube videos that combine show tunes or Top-40 hits with popular culture, such as his video "Cinderonce", which told the story of Cinderella using only Beyoncé songs.
* Source

Cap O' Rushes by Severino Baraldi

It's been a while since I did an art post so I dug into my drafts folder and found these gems to share. They are one of the set of fairy tale illustrations by the prolific and amazing Italian painter, Severino Baraldi.

You can be forgiven if you're from the US or UK and not aware of his work. He seems far better known in Europe, though that's a shame because his work is stunning. This is where my love of the internet knows no bounds - to have access to so many the fantastic things, especially writers and artists, that, till now, have been sequestered in their own countries and regions for whatever reason. Now we can all appreciate and enjoy the beauty!

The original source alerting me to this set said these illustrations are from a German tale titled, Prinzessin Binsenkappe, loosely translated as Princess Rush-Hood (or Cap O' Rushes).

Born in 1930, his illustrations cover a range of historical subjects, vehicles and Biblical subjects as well as fairy tales.

Aren't they beautiful? There are many more of Baraldi's "enchanted illustrations" on the web and by searching Pinterest HERE and Flickr HERE too.

He would seem to be quite an admirer of Gustav Tenggren (whose fairy tale work you likely know well, including Tenggren's influence on Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs), but especially with regard to his 1001 Arabian Nights illustrations (see comparisons below), to the extent he reposed almost identical scenes. This style sensibility he seemed to carry through to his other fairy tale work though, like Cap O' Rushes shown above, and he ended up producing some truly beautiful pieces. I'm surprised we don't see his work more often, especially since it lends itself so well to popular animation styles today.

Baraldi was actually offered work in animation earlier in his career but he turned it down in favor of creating a huge set of Biblical illustrations. It should be noted, though, that he got his start in art by doing chalk drawings on pavement to entertain customers of a local barber's shop, as well as doing cartoons for a newspaper before moving on to more "serious art" and study, so seeing him return to a stylized form of these art expressions shouldn't be too surprising. I'm glad he did. These are some of the most beautiful and delightful works he produced. Although the others are amazing and the detail and technique are quite awe inspiring, it's these fairy tale illustrations that capture the imagination.

Baraldi has had quite a busy life, one which seems to have him constantly employed in illustration of one kind or another throughout, which is a great achievement in itself. He's now retired and enjoying his family, although I have no doubt his paint brushes aren't gathering dust now either. :)

You can read up on a detailed explanation of his biography and illustrations HERE.

Grimm Season 3 Premieres TONIGHT (Finally!)

While it seems late compared to other shows it would seem expectation for Grimm is the highest it's ever been.

(They knew the wait would be a long one didn't they?!)

So tonight's the night folks! Set your DVR...

And, while Grimm fans are checking their watches (do people even have those anymore?) every half-hour or so to see the time drag closer as slowly as a one-legged zombie shuffle, they can take advantage of the FREE e-book download HERE and browse the following features (at least, you they if they have an i-Thingy of some kind. Kindle, GooglePlay and other differently platformed folk like myself will have to wait a little bit for a non-i-version to be released):

Download this interactive, multi-touch book, and let the NBC hit drama series Grimm come alive!• Learn about homicide detective Nick Burkhardt and the rest of the characters on Grimm.• Watch Season 1 and Season 2 recaps.• Browse through the journal passed down by Nick's family for generations of Grimms.• Get a 360-degree look inside Rosalee�s Exotic Tea & Spice Shop.• Navigate through the Creature Gallery and see the creepy transformations.• View and maneuver 3-D models used to design the mythical creatures.• See behind-the-scenes photos from the filming of Seasons 1 and 2.• Create your favorite creature, save it and/or submit it to NBC - we just might post it online or in a future edition of this book.• Test your Grimm trivia knowledge, get each episode and so much more! 

And if you already have the eBook, then what are you waiting for?!? Download the free revised edition now and get ready for Season 3 of Grimm!Note: This revised edition is also coming soon for Kindle Fire, Nook, Google Play, and Kobo but with limited features. Stay tuned!

I forgot to mention, too that the SECOND official Grimm magazine is now available for purchase as well. 

In the 1st one (which I admittedly bought late at a cheap resale price, just so I could keep up to date in case there was anything included on fairy tales from the cast and crew), I was pleasantly surprised to see a listing, origin and explanation of all the opening fairy tale quotes for each episode (jackpot!), as well as more discussion on fairy tales and favorite tales than I expected. 

I'm definitely curious about the second one now.

And I think today's season premiere means we've (finally) begun all the regularly scheduled fairy tale shows for the season. Hurrah!

Reminder: Hallmarks' Indiana-Jones-Meets-Warehouse13-Meets-Fairy-Tale-Family-Movie "The Hunters" airs TONIGHT

Press Release:

‘THE HUNTERS’       Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere“Walmart and P&G Present Walden Family Theater”Friday, October 25 (8p.m. ET/PT, 7C)Starring: Victor Garber, Michelle Forbes, Alexa Vega, Robbie Amell, Keenan Tracey and Dan Payne 

Two brothers learn that they come from a long line of Hunters, a secret society sworn to protect powerful fairy tale objects from falling into the wrong hands. When their Hunter parents go missing in their quest to retrieve the magical Mirror, the very same mirror that played a prominent role in the story of Snow White, the brothers realize they have to assume their birthright and find their parents and the Mirror, before it’s too late.
In an adaptation of Joshua Williamson’s comic book Mirror Mirror, The Hunters is part of Hallmark Channel’s new Friday night franchise Walden Family Theater presented in collaboration with Walmart, Procter & Gamble, award-winning family entertainment producer Walden Media (The Chronicles Of Narnia, Bridge To Terabithia, Holes) and fast-growing independent studio ARC Entertainment. Walden Family Theater is designed to further fill the void on TV for quality family entertainment.

Note: I think this will be one of those "spot the fairy tale reference movies" though the lesser known ones are unlikely to make appearances. Mostly I'm curious as to how the well known ones are "differently referenced". Eg from this interview HERE on the Hallmark site, the actress makes note of Cinderella's glass slipper having one of the shards of the Mirror (from Snow White) hidden on the bottom and that they must use a tooth of The Big Bad Wolf (from LRRH) to open a tomb.

It could be fun but I've been so disappointed by adaptations, I'm afraid to get my hopes up. And I really would have called it something different... Gosh I hope this screenplay is written (and acted) well!

"Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" Set to Make Mini-Series Magic c/- the BBC

A seven-part series adaptation of the best selling fairy tale-ish novel is being developed for the BBC (squee!), the cast has just been announced and they're set to start filming in Yorkshire, Canada and Croatia next week!

 I love the way SFX UK added extra commentary in their announcement so I'll share that with you instead of the usual list:

Bertie Carvel

Eddie Marsan

 The BBC has confirmed recent rumours that Eddie Marsan (Snow White And The Huntsman, Hancock and loads of much better non-SF stuff) will play Mr Norrell, and Bertie Carvel (Sherlock, Les Misérables) will play Jonathan Strange in their upcoming adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s best-selling alternate history novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

Joining Marsan and Carvel in the seven-part adaptation are Alice Englert (the best thing inBeautiful Creatures), Marc Warren (Doctor Who’s “Love And Monsters”), Samuel West (Eternal Law, Van Helsing), Charlotte Riley (Wuthering Heights, Easy Virtue), Enzo Cilenti (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Kick-Ass 2) and Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones, Being Human).

And you have to love this tidbit from Bertie Carvel who will be playing Strange:

“I read the book some years ago and was totally enchanted. I’ve been casting spells for the part of Strange ever since. It is a considerable surprise to find that some of them worked!”

I'm going to choose lovely, magical coincidence over marketing genius with that line.

Susanna Clarke's award winning novel has had numerous people attempt to realize it in movie form since it hit the best seller list but it looks like this mini-series is definitely a "go" now and, let's be honest, if you're a fan of the book, you'd rather a miniseries than just a two hour long movie... wouldn't you? (Though movie paraphernalia tie-ins would be awesome..)

I'm just VERY curious to see how they manage the footnotes... (Oh please be clever about it!)

You'll be glad to know Toby Haynes - director of both Doctor Who AND Sherlock will be calling the shots. Should be a good 'un! (And I have hopes on the footnote front with him at the helm too.)

CW's Beauty & the Beast Flirts... No. Has "A Full On Date" With Domestic Violence (Yes, They Went There. No It Was Not A Good Thing.)

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

It's Season 2, Episode 3: Oh CW, what have you done?

While I'm one of those people who, perhaps too easily, sees more than a little Stockholm Syndrome in retellings of Beauty and the Beast (not so much the originals but many stories "after" it), but the places the CW's Beauty and the Beast has gone/is going, is... kinda a not-good thing.

OK. No "kinda". It's just not.

Quick summary after the jump to catch you up, in case you haven't seen the episode and don't care about spoilers.
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Hallmark's "The Hunters" Set To Air This Friday, Oct 25 (Wow, That Was Quick!)

Seriously. How long ago did I post an announcement on The Hunters? (Aka Warehouse 13 offspring go hunting fairy tale artifacts - and their parents?)

Answer: less than four months ago. From proposal to air date, that's REALLY quick! Whatever the case, Hallmark's production value is usually pretty good (though it's been a while since I've seen anything from them) and the writing is either very good or not really there at all. Here's hoping it's the former and that it was just a case of the project not being announced until a good script was squared away.

In case you missed the general premise (apart from the quick summary above) fairy tale people were real and they're "things" are "alive and well" - and powerful -  right here, right now. And there's a small group of people dedicated to keeping powerful fairy tale artifacts out of the hands of those who would use them for badness. Think "fairy tale Indiana Jones meets Warehouse 13. With kids." :)

Creating something with enough action and minimal violence to attract tweens, teens and adult audiences is a challenge within itself. The Hallmark Channel's original movie "The Hunters" meets that challenge and then some, providing a fun ride for both young and older viewers. 

"The Hunters," ...is more about growing up with the appreciation of family more than it is jet setting across the globe in search of fairy tale-based artifacts. 

Emmy award nominee and veteran actor Victor Graber plays the former artifact hunter and protector who is hell-bent on using the magical properties of the items to gain power to rule the world. 

The main characters are the Flynn brothers who team up with their parent's assistant to go after shards of the magic mirror of "Snow White" fame in order to find and rescue their parent who went missing after complications on a recent mission.

... Based on the comic book "Mirror, Mirror" by Joshua Williamson, "The Hunters" is a fun, family film that will entertain children and their parents with an open ending leaving room for sequels in the future.  (Source)

You can read the rest of the article from someone who got a preview of the show (and liked it very much) HERE.

Oh and there's a trailer too:

 

Not quite sure what I think of this. The fairy tale aspects aren't greatly apparent here (apart from the Mirror) and I don't see much evidence of new spins on old tales like the panels included in the blog post HERE, featuring Red Riding Hood tale motifs in a snowy cemetery, but that doesn't mean they're not included. Guess I'll just have to watch. (The things I have to do... *long suffering sigh* lol).

There's an official page with cast interviews, photos and more HERE as well. I haven't seen any acknowledgment from the original author of the comic but maybe the airing snuck up on him too!

Princess Kaguya Preview Looks Like An Animated Picture Scroll. Also, Amazing.

I've seen quite a bit of excited reaction to the newly released preview of The Tale of Princess Kaguya today!

If you're a regular reader here, you'll know that this is Studio Ghibli's next fairy tale and a very important one, being the oldest recorded folktale for Japan (we're talking REALLY old, like 10th Century!).

I love the juxtaposition of the music against the images here, not to mention the raw feeling the images convey.

Take a look:

Although the publicity to date has been on the quiet side, perhaps with people wondering if the director, Isao Takahata, could pull off a fairy tale as beautifully as Miyazaki does (since Takahata is known more for using an off-beat and gritty approach than for pretty tales), fears and doubts are being put to rest with this preview.

I'm sensing very excited stirrings in the animation community too.

Takahata is using a very different technical approach as well, which no doubt will add much to the charm of the (re)telling of this tale, apart from being a different form of storytelling for big screen animation. The technique is called emakimono, which is a horizontal illustrated narrative (aka a picture scroll). Some believe emakimono to be the earliest form of Manga, as in, from the 11th century (!) which adds another layer of interest to the project. (Bet you never knew how far back Manga went! I certainly didn't.)

You can also see a little from behind-the-scenes, or "making of" in the video on this page HERE. If you're interested in animation or the tale it's worth taking a peek, as short as it is.

Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya) is set to open in Japanese theaters on November 23rd, 2013. No word yet on when it will be distributed it in the US, though Disney have picked up the contract to do so. Hopefully we'll see it in time for the Xmas holiday period.

PS Aren't the horizontal layout posters beautiful? I had to include them all...

UPDATE ADDED 9:30pm WEDNESDAY 10/23:

Oh look! I didn't even realize iO9 is raving all about this today!

Heh. Told you people were excited now. ;)

Check the happy-dancing at iO9 HERE.

* News Source: Crunchyroll