Dorothy. Disconcert for Oz. 2007

Doroty. Sconcerto per Oz (2007)

Production Macedonian Opera and Ballet, and Fanny & Alexander
In co-production with Kampnagel Hamburg
With the contribution of POGAS – Politiche Giovanili e Attività Sportive
Music from Sonnambula by V.Bellini, Lakmè by L.Delibes, Madam Butterfly by G.Puccini, Pygmalion by J.J.Rousseau-H.Coignet, Prometheus by A.Scriabin
Texts from The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz by F.L.Baum
The characters of the Witch of the South, the North and the West are inspired by Gurù (La pietra lunare), Donna P. (La piccola Apocalisse) and Lucrezia (Il Mar delle Blatte) by Tommaso Landolfi
Idea Luigi de Angelis e Chiara Lagani
Direction, staging, lights, orchestration Luigi de Angelis
Dramaturgy Chiara Lagani
Costumes Chiara Lagani e Sofia Vannini
With Milena Arsovska (soprano), Annalisa Bartolini (soprano), Nicoletta Bassetti (violino), Maria Chiara Braccalenti (oboe), Marco Cavalcoli, Chiara Lagani, Francesca Mazza, Fiorenza Menni
And with l’Orchestra da camera Mosaici Sonori conducted by Elena Sartori: Maria Agostini (second horn), Federico Benini (bassoon), Anton Berovski (first violin), Emiliano Frondi (first horn), Luigi Lidonnici (oboe), Elisa Nanni (viola), Samuele Pasini (double bass), Andrea Poli (second violin)
Debut Skopje, Macedonian Opera and Ballet, February 17, 2007.

Doroty. Sconcerto per Oz. Presentation

by Alice Fadda
Staged for the first time in Skopje, Macedonia in 2007, thanks to a co-production with the Macedonian Opera and Ballet and the Hamburg Kampnagel, Dorothy. Sconcerto per Oz, defined by Fanny & Alexander as a “musical theater piece or scéne lirique,” is rather a “cyclone” of sights and sounds, whose structure refers explicitly to John Cage’s Europeras. Its protagonists are a chamber orchestra, three actresses, three singers, three musicians and an actor. After taking refuge in a theater to escape an impending cyclone, while waiting they rehearse as if they had to stage a theatrical performance.
The cyclone, which everyone expects, thus takes on the features of a profound metaphor, setting in motion the tale of the Wizard of Oz, the supernatural force that drags Dorothy, just as it does in Baum’s novel, far from her beloved Kansas to a marvelous, unknow n world, an instrument capable of recalling all the natural disasters that have stricken and will strike the Earth, alluding to the forces of Nature and consequent human weaknesses. The cyclone becomes the work’s constructive device, reflecting its structure, a multi-layered musical score that interweaves the motifs and arias of the works of Scriabin, Bellini, Delibes, Puccini and Rousseau-Coignet, along with fragments from texts by Baum and Tommaso Landolfi, but also the original soundtrack of the 1947 film.