"What's in your mirror?"

Glenn Healy.................... Narrator
Conductor...................... Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist............................ Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds..................... Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin.............................. Kate Outterbridge
Percussion....................... Julian Bridges
Sound Design.................. Zac Lavender

Finale

some say I am wicked
because I disguised myself as a hag
laced her bodice so tight
it left red streaks across her
pure white skin
tightening her ribs
against her lungs 
until she couldn’t breathe

and when that failed
I combed poison through her
perfect raven hair
until her unconsciousness thrilled me
laughing as the color 
drained from her cheeks

but alas
she was revived again 
by those bumbling dwarves
so I thought an apple would do the trick
when she sunk her teeth into red
as I sunk mine into white
I delivered my venom
like a snake
yet somehow
by the grace of love
she survived

mirror mirror
some say I am wicked
but I swear I am fair
I only gave the young queen
what she deserved
I could have built an empire of beauty
on her dead body

but now I am melted
a wicked witch
into burning iron shoes
my last sight on earth
is of the little girl
white as snow
red as blood
black as ebony wood
and as ugly as can be

Evil Queen...................... Katy Clark
Conductor...................... Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist............................ Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds..................... Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin.............................. Kate Outterbridge
Percussion....................... Julian Bridges

Snow White

my children wear duck feathers in their hair
but I swear they were an angels’
as they returned to me
for the very last time

ash smears the hollows of her eyes
as she rubs them with worn hands
the witch’s death 
still fills the crevices of her fingers

his teeth rot from sugar
as he gnaws at the insides 
of his pink plump cheeks
always hungry for more

these are not the children
I left to die
surrounded by flames
in the thick of the woods

still they shower me 
with pearls and kisses
that remind me
how poor I was without them

Hansel & Gretel's Father......... Achilles Leonidas Bezanis
Conductor.............................. Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist.................................... Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds............................. Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin...................................... Kate Outterbridge
Percussion............................... Julian Bridges

Hansel & Gretel

this is not bibbity bobbity boo
but all the birds under heaven
exist for you

they nest in hazel trees
until your voice calls
so they can flock to you
with magic under their wings

they peck lentils from ashes
dress you in gold and silver
all so you can dance free
for three nights
with gilded feet
in the arms of a prince

the birds sing to him
from atop my grave
as they spot blood
spilling out your shoes
from somebody else’s feet

on your wedding day
two white pigeons
sit on your shoulders
to walk you down the aisle
in my place

they peck out your sisters’ eyes
they don’t deserve to see
how well the shoe fit

Cinderella's Mother........ Tessa Romano
Conductor...................... Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist............................ Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds..................... Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin.............................. Kate Outterbridge
Percussion....................... Julian Bridges

Cinderella

blood dripped into the snow
replenishing the roots
of a juniper tree
so in spring
I could blossom from its berries

my step-mother beheaded me
boiled in my sister’s tears
she slid me into my father’s soup
and left my sister only the bones 
to wrap in silk beneath the juniper tree

my sister wept until blood
slipped down her cheeks
it poured onto me
waking the roots of the juniper tree
until it cried a fire of mist

I flew from its leaves
feathered and singing
to a goldsmith
a shoemaker 
and a miller

they traded their treasures for my song
a gold chain for my father
a pair of red shoes for my sister
lava pumped through my stepmother’s blood
hysteria spinning her world
 
I crushed her with the millstone
and flames burst from her corpse
when the smoke parted
I stood silhouetted against the juniper tree
and took my father and sister by the hand

Juniper Boy..................... Samuel Plumb
Conductor...................... Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist............................ Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds..................... Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin.............................. Kate Outterbridge
Percussion....................... Julian Bridges

Juniper Tree

I was fastened to a stake
for a crime I did not do

my lips sewn
the only way I could speak
was stitching together six shirts
in order to break the witch’s spell

she followed  ball of yarn
to our haven in the woods
she could not find me
but turned my brothers into birds

for six years I have not spoken
and the king has loved me just the same

yet you his mother
steal three children from my womb
smear blood on my mouth
and ruin my silent name

over the horizon flew
six swans honking my salvation
they stand before us wearing aster shirts
my spell-broken brothers

one wing remains
for the sleeve I could not finish

reunited with my children
my brothers, now his mother
it is you who must burn
for the swans no longer sing

Swan Queen................... Nora Burgard
Conductor...................... Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist............................ Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds..................... Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin.............................. Kate Outterbridge
Percussion....................... Julian Bridges

The Six Swans

I am not the froth
riding on crests of waves
in the hope that
I can caress his face
one last time

instead I am wind
whispering in his ear
with the voice I had muted
just to love him
I sung to him with my eyes

but now he looks at another
for three hundred years
I must watch their souls
lace together
before I can find mine

my sisters cry for me
crystal tears pouring
out their oceanic eyes
they build a palace
with their mourning

but I could never 
pierce his heart
with the knife they gave me
not now that I know
how heartbreak feels

Little Mermaid................ Coline Infante
Conductor...................... Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist............................ Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds..................... Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin.............................. Kate Outterbridge
Percussion....................... Julian Bridges

Little Mermaid

students!
the reason you're here 
is to dispel mischief
across the land

your tool is a looking glass
designed to shrink 
all that is good and beautiful
into nothing

to magnify 
all that is bad and ugly

looking through it cute
little freckles
explode into boils
landscapes like paintings
wilt into droopy spinach

noble ideals contort
into wickedness

you will distort all until 
each person on earth sees their head
flipped upside down
their bodies evaporating
into thin air

when we complete this task
we shall fly into heaven
so the angels themselves
turn into fat plucked birds

fat plucked birds who 
chase their own tails
all the better

if the mirror shatters
the wind will carry
its fragments
across the land

glass shards will pierce hearts
and turn them into ice
dust will slip under the eyelids
of the innocent so they can 
only see the world through
the lens of chaos!

Demon........................... Kevin Harvey
Conductor...................... Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist............................ Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds..................... Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin.............................. Kate Outterbridge
Percussion....................... Julian Bridges
Sound Design.................. Zac Lavender


Intro: The Snow Queen

I picked a flower
but it bloomed into a path
I had to chase

as I ran my bouquet
grew into a planet
so lovely I wished I was inside it
but then I looked around
at the fields of colors
and realized I was inside it

I tried to touch the birds
but they flew away
and when I tried to fly
I was trapped
dancing with the specks of dust
in the sunlight

the birds danced with us
whispered in their song
I could hear his voice
“it is very beautiful in the woods”

so I thank you Wolf
for leading me astray
on this most glorious of days

Little Red Cap................. Zoe Marie Hart
Conductor...................... Antonina Chekhovskaya
Painist............................ Kiril Kuzmin
Woodwinds..................... Nathaniel Hoshal
Violin.............................. Kate Outterbridge
Percussion....................... Julian Bridges

Little Red Cap

Shattering the Mirror: A Fairy Tale Song Cycle is an hour-long musical theatre piece that adapts eight classic Hans Christian Andersen and Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales and brings the stories to life through the perspective of a single character within each song. The music for the show combines elements of popular and classical chamber music to bring the poetic adaptations of the stories to life.

Recorded live April 27th 2014 at the Keene Theatre in Ann Arbor

Director/ Co-Producer-
James Schmid

Composer/Co-Producer-
Zac Lavender

Poetry-
Melissa Golden

Script-
Ryan Widner

Conductor- 
Antonina Chekhovskaya


Shattering The Mirror

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