A familiar wooden puppet takes on new life this weekend as Boulder Opera presents Jonathan Dove's operatic adaptation of "The Adventures of Pinocchio" at eTown Hall.
The production offers a fresh take on the classic tale, combining modern musical elements with universal themes of personal growth and community.
The one-hour adaptation, designed specifically for families, features Dove's challenging contemporary score, drawn from a wide variety of musical traditions.
"Dove borrows from each time period beautifully," music director Mario Barbosa explained. "There's a lot of sounds that are inspired by minimalism. You hear a lot of Philip Glass. You hear lots of things that are almost borrowed from Disney."
“It’s probably the most challenging piece of music I have ever worked on,” acknowledged Casey Klopp, who performs the title role. “But it’s been a great honor to tackle it as a musician. It’s really fun when you find something that challenges you because when things are so familiar, it’s easy to kind of fall into copying existing interpretations of things.”
While the opera was composed almost a decade ago, there aren’t any recordings online, which Klopp said provided the cast with an exciting opportunity to bring something new to their roles. It will also be new to audiences since this is one of the first regional presentations of the work.
And for fans of the Disney film, Klopp emphasized that this production differs from familiar versions of the story.
"Even though people are familiar with this, the music and the newness of our interpretation gives us a really unique opportunity here to bring something to people that they have no experience with," Klopp said. "The story also has some darkness to it, and I think we do a good job of capturing the dichotomy of slapstick comedy and also some really profound intimate moments."
The creative team has adapted the full opera, typically running over two hours, into a more accessible sixty-minute format, while retaining the sophistication of Dove’s score.
"Because it's the family series, we wanted to make it a lot more accessible, especially to younger children," stage director Zane Alcorn said. "We want this to be an opportunity for very young kids to have their first opera experience."
The production explores themes of community responsibility and personal growth that will resonate with audiences of all ages. Alice Del Simone, who alternates the roles of the Cricket and Blue Fairy, described the story's broader appeal.
"We chose Pinocchio because we think that it's a great show to just talk about kind of growing up, but also beyond just growing up," Del Simone said. "How do we learn to be better people and what are the things that we go through that change us and teach us how to be the people that we are?"
eTown Hall's cozy setting — the venue seats just over 200 — provides unique opportunities for audience connection. "It's kind of an interesting space because it is both a proscenium, but it's kind of a very intimate proscenium space," Alcorn said. "There's going to be a lot of opportunity for the characters to connect with the audience."
This production underlines the importance of regional opera companies in introducing new works to new audiences, according to Brandon Tyler Padgett, who plays Geppetto.
"Smaller opera companies are so important for the culture around here," Padgett said. "We have the ability, we have the mobility to open you to new things, new ideas, new sounds that you've never experienced before.”
Boulder Opera presents "The Adventures of Pinocchio" at eTown Hall on Dec. 14 and 15.
