How The Gimquat Found Her Song is a clever combination of music, theatre, and puppetry in story telling of a strange, giant bird, The Gimquat in her bid to find the song most befitting for her.
Behind every great story is an even greater story writer. For this performance, we have award-winning Peter Duschenes, Artistic Director and Writer of Platypus Theatre not only writing the play but also performing as the wizard. The Wizard had taken upon himself to help the Gimquat find her song in her heart after admiring the beauty of the many songs sung by birds in the forest.
The wizard took the Gimquat and us through the time machine of 1000 years as we travel with the music conducted by Naohisa Furusawa. The first being BIZET Carmen Suite No. 1: Prélude to open the play in a bewitching and overwhelming atmosphere.
Samantha Bitonti played the Gimquat exceptionally well, bringing the puppet to life in action and voice. The Gimquat is certainly easily identifiable in her character. Many of us are like her. We want to find our life purpose and achieve something great but do not want to settle for just anything. The story of the Gimquat on a journey to find her story through her song is really one that touches the hearts and minds of the young ones in the audience.
The orchestra played VIVALDI The Four Seasons:La Primavera (Spring), a most well known piece in one of the many time travelling experiences. Many times the Gimquat seemed on the verge of giving up but the wizard never tarry to encourage her and introduce to her another genre of song. For BACH Bist Du Bei Mir, the audience was delighted to be introduced to Heah Junn, soprano, a very talented young voice that gave the music a breath of fresh air. I was sure Heah Junn’s recital inspired many a young souls on the possibility of a career as an opera singer in this country.
The MPO continued to bring popular pieces to life with MOZART The Marriage of Figaro: Overture, as the Gimquat continued reject the introduction of the wizard. With BERLIOZ’s Symphonie Fantastique – V. Songe d’une nuit du sabbat, we even travelled to a 9th century cathedral to witness a somber Gregorian chant Dies Irae to the misery of the Gimquat on the verge of running away.
In a final pursuit to help the Gimquat find her song, the wizard introduced BRAHMS’ Wiegenlied, best known to us as the lullaby and even danced to OFFENBACH’s Can Can in a most memorable 19th century energetic high kicking dance.
When all seemed lost, the Gimquat magically transformed after a time lost at sea, into a beautiful majestic bird. All’s well ends well as the Gimquat rejoiced in her new song and the wizard achieved his feat while we were treated to a dramatic ending with RAVEL Mother Goose Suite: Pavane de la Belle & Le jardin féérique. All in all, a beautiful performance and once again a perfect partnership between Platypus Theatre and our Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.
Visit www.mpo.com.my or check out the MPO social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok) for any latest updates.