Guggenheim’s Peter & the Wolf set by Estudio Campana
December 15, 2008. You can’t be a hero if you don’t take risks is the moral to the tale of Peter & the Wolf, and don’t the creators of the Guggenheim’s Works & Process program know it. Today and tomorrow, W&P is presenting the last of a dozen 30-minute performances, featuring scenography designed by Brazil’s Estudio Campana. This year’s Art Basel/Design Miami Designers of the Year, Humberto and Fernando Campana used materials as rudimentary as industrial-strength cellophane, soda bottles and wood scraps to create the meadow where Peter sets out to catch a wolf. Both Peter and his grandfather resemble the brothers’ iconic Multidao chair and, like the chair, were fabricated by traditional Brazilian dollmakers from strips of fabric. MacArthur Prize winner Jennifer Tipton’s lighting washes through the Campanas diaphanous and evocative set like watercolors. Narrated by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi, the score was composed by Sergei Prokofiev in only one week in 1936 with the intention of introducing the sounds of an orchestra to children. This time around, it is played by The Juilliard Ensemble conducted by George Manahan, New York City Opera’s music director. Mon & Tues, Dec 15, 16, 4pm and 5:30pm. Presented in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street. Box office open M-F, 1-5pm at (212) 423-3587. worksandprocess.org, guggenheim.org
The rocks are cellophane, the tree made from soda bottles.
Narrator Isaac Mizrahi sits on a signature Campana design.
Lobo sketch by Estudio Campana imagines the wolf.