Iván Fischer: The Gruffalo
Text and images: Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Translated by Ádám Nádasdy
Musical director: Róbert Farkas
Director: Eszter Novák
Iván Fischer was requested by the Berlin Konzerthaus to compose an opera for children based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s world-famous picture book, The Gruffalo. The humorous opera now premieres in Hungary in translation by Ádám Nádasdy. The production is recommended for children between the ages of 3 and 10.
The opera follows the adventures of a clever little mouse who, while strolling through the forest, meets a fox, an owl, and a snake, all eager to eat him. To escape, he invents a fearsome creature called the Gruffalo, with terrible claws, terrible tusks, and, believe it or not, a particular taste for foxes, owls, and snakes. The trick works, until, quite out of the blue, a real Gruffalo appears, so our clever mouse must outsmart him, too.
After the performance, members of the audience who are brave enough will have a chance to take a picture with the Gruffalo and the other characters of this delightfully fanciful tale.