Music Theatre since 1990 - Schott Music

Synopsis
A modern fable, Fantastic Mr. Fox is a story about good vs. evil, animal vs. human, and nature
vs. technology. With the help of the other creatures of the forest, Mr. Fox must outwit his enemies
to keep his family safe. Mr. Fox finds that he may have stolen one hen too many from the
henhouse, as the meanest farmers anywhere — Boggis, Bunce, and Bean (one fat, one short,
one lean) — conspire to rid their lands of the Fox family once and for all. The Foxes are able to
evade capture with the help of some woodland friends, leaving the farmers laying in wait while
the animals help themselves to the fruit of the farmers’ lands. Having had their revenge, the
animals return for a sumptuous feast far from danger in the Foxes‘ new home, while the farmers
continue to wait in the rain.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
09.12.1998 Los Angeles Opera
[Picker‘s score is] is a strong, flexible piece of sustained writing that skilfully juxtaposes the animal
kingdom‘s buoyant innocence with the more mordant colours of the human realm… [this is] music
that consistently boasts grateful, characterful vocal writing.
(Timothy Pfaff, The Financial Times London, 12/1998)
The great skill of Picker‘s compositional art can be seen very clearly in this opera. On the one
hand the counterpoint of his ideas presents an intellectual challenge...but it is often subliminally
combined with bold and catchy orchestral effects. Fantastic Mr. Fox was more than just a success
d‘estime. (Helmut Mauro, Süddeutsche Zeitung)
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