OVERVIEWELEMENTS OF THE EARTH features your Music Director and Symphony Orchestra and a cast of two professional actors (see "Director & Cast"). Writer-Director Didi Balle arrives with a rehearsed, staged and fully costumed cast of professional actors in a ready-t0-go production requiring one rehearsal with your Conductor and Orchestra. A School or Family Concert for Young People, Ages K-6
THE STORY: Explore our extraordinary planet inside the secret lab of Sir Isaac Newton, one of history's most influential scientists and, unknown to most, a passionate alchemist, as he searches for a brilliant assistant worthy of his time and tutelage. We follow the quest of 11-year-old Bartlebee Bottonomous, a lowly clerk whose desire to be more than a bottle-washer in Newton's laboratory arrives in the form of a riddle, which he must solve by learning the fundamentals of alchemy: an ancient tradition that believed the universe was made from five essential elements of Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and celestial Space. Can the aspiring alchemist's assistant, Bartlebee, overcome his humble beginnings as an impoverished but self-taught orphan to use music to solve Newton's riddle about the Five Elements, thereby transforming his own life from the ordinary (lead) into the extraordinary (gold)? Running Time: 45:00 through-composed. No intermission. The show's total time may be increased to a total of 1:00. CHARACTERS: SIR ISAAC NEWTON: Famed mathematician, late 40s. Has yet to discover gravity but revered and renowned for his studies on light and mathematical theories. A recluse, eccentric and free thinker who is sleep-deprived, ill-tempered and cranky in his relentless pursuit to unlock the secrets of the universe. (Philadelphia Orchestra World Premiere: Tony Tsendeas) BARTLEBEE BOTTONOMOUS: Newton’s 11-year-old lab boy with a memory like a fox and a mind beyond his years. He’s sweet, smart and scruffy, and with the energy of a coiled snake, he knows when to strike and when to retreat, and manages to intrigue and eventually win over, the taciturn Newton. (Philadelphia Orchestra World Premiere: Michael Boudewyns) |