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Puppet Ballet Unfolds In Bits 'N Pieces

Photo from Florida Orchestra

The Florida Orchestra collaborates with Bits 'N Pieces Puppet Theatre for "Petrushka With Puppets," an all-Russian program featuring the music of Igor Stravinsky and Alexander Borodin.

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By KATHY L. GREENBERG

Tribune correspondent

Published: December 28, 2008

Puppetry expresses the human condition with a kind of visual magic. It can be as powerful to the eye as music is to the ear.

In their first collaboration, The Florida Orchestra and Bits 'N Pieces Puppet Theatre merge these art forms in "Petrushka With Puppets," an all-Russian program that features the music of Igor Stravinsky and Alexander Borodin.

The orchestra will open the program with Stravinsky's "Circus Polka," which Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus commissioned for a young elephant ballet, and Borodin's "Symphony No. 2." In the second half, Bits 'N Pieces will present its colorful adaptation of Stravinsky's 20th century ballet "Petrushka," in tandem with the orchestra's instrumental interpretation.

Choosing puppets to help articulate the story of Petrushka is a stroke of genius, considering the piece is actually about a puppet master and the toys he manipulates.

"It's usually played as just a concert piece and less often done as a ballet," said David Rogers, artistic administrator for The Florida Orchestra. "We wanted to bring out the drama through the use of puppets. The idea was to bring back much more visually the dramatic story line of the music."

Stravinsky and librettist Alexandre Benois composed "Petrushka" for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes in 1911. The Florida Orchestra will perform the 1947 revised version.

The story takes place during carnival time in 19th century Russia. The Old Wizard plays his flute before a crowd and casts a life-giving spell on three puppets: Petrushka (Pinocchio's Slavic doppelganger), the Moor and the Ballerina.

The Wizard then drafts a doomed love triangle in which Petrushka, who feels love despite his sawdust stuffing, falls for the Ballerina. The Ballerina, however, fancies the Moor, who later murders Petrushka.

When the police investigate the crime, the Wizard reminds them that no blood could have been shed; the victim was, after all, just a puppet. Petrushka's ghost riles at this injustice and visits his wrath upon the Old Wizard.

Jerry Bickel, founder and artistic director of Bits 'N Pieces, will play the wizard role.

"I'm playing the puppeteer of all puppeteers," Bickel said. "It's fun. I get to wear a cape."

Bickel started the theater in 1972. Housed at the PuppetWorld Playhouse in Dover, the company introduced the first theater program in Hillsborough County schools. It now tours throughout the United States and Europe, telling traditional fairy tales through puppets. In 1979, the group began using giant body puppets, which Bits 'N Pieces artistic director Holli Rubin calls the stars of the theater.

During the orchestra's 35-minute production, seven puppeteers will manipulate the 8- to 10-foot-tall stars, plus marionettes and shadow puppets built by Chuck Majewski. Bickel and Rubin hope the Bits 'N Pieces-designed scenery will give audiences the feel of a traditional Russian village.

"Puppets are adaptable to the times," Bickel said. "We are going to stay true to the story of Petrushka and make it live now.

"People will enjoy it as though it's 1911."

IN CONCERT

WHAT: The Florida Orchestra and Bits 'N Pieces Puppet Theatre present "Petrushka With Puppets," part of the Progress Energy Masterworks series.

WHEN AND WHERE: 8 p.m. Jan. 9, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Carol Morsani Hall, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa; 7:30 p.m. Jan. 11, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater

HOW MUCH: $19 to $65; 1-800-662-3331; www.floridaorchestra.org

More in January with The Florida Orchestra:

Five by Design in "Stay Tuned," a tribute to the early days of television variety shows; 8 p.m. Friday, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa; 8 p.m. Saturday, Progress Energy Center for the Arts, Mahaffey Theater, 400 First St. S., St. Petersburg; and 8 p.m. Jan. 5, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater; $19 to $65

"Pictures at an Exhibition," another all-Russian program, including Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and award-winning pianist Peter Rosel playing Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini"; 8 p.m. Jan. 23, performing arts center, Tampa; 8 p.m. Jan. 24, Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater; $19-$65

"Great Brits," music from Great Britain; 11 a.m. Jan. 29, Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; $24 to $40

The orchestra performs the music of Pink Floyd; 8 p.m. Jan. 30, Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; $35 to $85

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