Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Tori Amos' "The Light Princess" Starts Rehearsals (+ Film Making Comp To Win Tickets!)

Do you remember a little post from a few years ago, mentioning Tori Amos was composing lyrics and a score for George MacDonald's fairy tale The Light Princess*? Well the show is finally complete, started rehearsals a couple of days ago and is due to open in the National Theater, London, this September 25th (2013). And yes: You can now buy tickets!

All the official information and ticket links are HERE.

Press release:
Once, in opposing kingdoms lived a princess and a prince who had lost their mothers. Althea, unable to cry, became light with grief and floated, and so was locked away. Digby became so heavy-hearted that he could never smile, and so was trained as a warrior. 
One day, he declares war. Althea is forced out of hiding and down to ground but, in defiance of her father, she escapes, only to encounter the solemn prince on contested land. Beside a lake the warring heirs begin a passionate and illicit affair. But for Althea to find real love, she must first confront the world’s darkness and face her own deepest fears. 
The Light Princess brings together iconic singer-songwriter Tori Amos with playwright Samuel Adamson and directorMarianne Elliott (Curious Incident) in this spectacular coming-of-age story. A dark fairytale about grief, rebellion and the power of love. 
I’m done, Father,Keep your crown,I swear you’ll never bring me down!I am not queen material!
The cast went into rehearsals on Monday (August 5th, 2013) and are tweeting their experiences! Check the latest tweets HERE (no account required). Sounds like they're having a ball and like it will be a great show too.

We now also have some details about the show and how Ms. Amos adapted the fairy tale for a modern audience.
✒ ✒ ✒  ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 


Here's a clip of Tori talking about creating the show from almost a year ago when the writing part was almost complete:
There's another video HERE from April this year in which Ms. Amos gives many more details about The Light Princess as part of a larger interview. Her comments on her fairy tale musical start just before the 9 minute mark and go till the end.

AND there's a filmmaking competition where you can win tickets to see the show! Aimed at young amateurs (18-25) who haven't had their big break yet or made it to a festival, this for all of you budding filmmakers who've wished and wanted to try a fairy tale film but just haven't.. yet. I'm just going to put some of the info here to get you all excited so you go straight out, grab the nearest camera and film a fairy tale!
The National Theatre are looking for enthusiastic and talented filmmakers who have an interest in one, or all, of the following: theatre, fairytales, storytelling, visual creativity. This brief is aimed at filmmakers who haven't had the opportunity before to have their work supported and showcased. 
To celebrate the debut of their new musical, The Light Princess, the National Theatre is looking for IdeasTap members to make a short film inspired by the show. Your film can take any form of moving image, including animation, computer generated graphics, documentary, etc. This brief is aimed at filmmakers who haven't had the opportunity before to have their work supported and showcased. 
The NT is looking for applications from pairs of filmmakers. There will be five winning duos – that means 10 winners in total. You will be paired-up with a relevant mentor. You will also be working with the National Theatre's in-house filmmaking unit. 
All the details of how it will work and the application information is HERE. (I have to say, this is the first time I've been envious of a 20-something for some time now..!)

You have 30 days till the deadline - GO!

For my part, apart from being uber-curious about the whole musical and modern/fairy tale approach Tori talks about, I can't wait to see what "beasties" Toby Olie (who played part of Joey in the eyes-bug-out-amazing War Horse on stage) has constructed for it.

And for Tori Amos fans who are desperately wondering about the songs, they were copyrighted some time ago, revealing a list of titles which can be found HERE. (And yes, Winter's Carol is one of them.)

Please note, these were copyrighted quite a while ago and writing was still happening early in 2012 so there may have been changes.

Once again, if you can plan to be in London for the show, the link to buy tickets (which I suggest you get as soon as possible - since fans have been tracking this show in development with great enthusiasm for YEARS now) is HERE.


Note: Do you have any idea how difficult it is to choose random Tori Amos pictures for a fairy tale post?? There are only umpteenillion fairy tale-ish Tori images to choose from! (One of the many reasons we love her.)

*The Light Princess is a short story - a novelette, if you will, and a quick, witty, and very entertaining read. Information about The Light Princess is HERE and the free Gutenberg text is HERE.

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