Puss in Boots
- Rok MatekPuss, Humanlike Puss in Boots, Puppet Puss (voice – video)
- Luka CimpričMatic, young and cute (same on video)
- Anja DrnovšekMarjetica, young and cute princess
- Ivan Rupnik/Nenad Tokalić (vskok)King, her annoying and nervous father
- Queen, her annoying and spoilt mother
- Brdavšek, Count and personified wickedness
- Jure IvanušičMusician, Judge (video)
- Musician, Helper (video)
- Vasko AtanasovskiMusician
- Marjan StanićMusician
- Žiga Golob/Vid Luka Narea (vskok)Musician
- Barbara BulatovićPuppet Puss (animation – video)
- Music: Nana Forte, Jure Ivanušič
- Dramaturgy: Dubravko Mihanović
- Assistant director: Mitja Lovše
- Set and costume design: Barbara Stupica
- Costume design assistant: Slavko Trivković
- Screening: Barbara Stupica, Nejc Saje
- Video: Nejc Saje
- Video engineering and mapping: Dušan Ojdanič
- Accompaniment: Diego Barrios Ross
- Language consultant: Mateja Dermelj
- Choreography: Natalija Manojlović Varga
- Lighting design: David Cvelbar
- Sound design: Silvo Zupančič
- Make-up artist: Nathalie Horvat
- Stage manager: Liam Hlede/Urša Červ
Puss in Boots is a story about Matic, the miller’s son, whose only inheritance after his father’s death was “Fritz the house cat”. But the cat soon turns out to be an invaluable companion, because with his resourcefulness he helps Matic win the heart of the beautiful princess Marjetica, beat the evil count Brdavšek she is betrothed to, and finally ascend the throne.
Andrej Rozman Roza leaned on the well known tale, but he expanded it, put it into rhymes and modernised it into a “family meowsical” which in its multi-layered structure has something to offer to everyone: magic and dynamic events to children, witty and socio-critical puns to adults, and joy of life, music and dance to all.
The spoken text is in verse as well and often has deeper message, so the production is definitely intended for the audience from 5 to 99 years. The response from the audience was very positive, it was obvious that the young and the old were enjoying it, adults for its socio-critical puns, children for its entertaining text and adventures. It is clear that when Andrej Rozman Roza writes for children, he writes for adults at the same time, for himself, for his inner child. It is interesting that he gave a role to the musicians as well: they are the voice of the people, precarious workers. And Puss in Boots is a character who fights against the system, but is very sly about it.
Lovely, multi-genre, cross over, contemporary music provided by the composers Nana Forte and Jure Ivanušič. The music performed live and integrated into the stage development is consistent. We have so few quality musicals that any piece in this genre is praiseworthy. The teams from Mladinsko and Koper fit together nicely. [...] The versifications with the inventive rhymes are dynamic and playful enough for the children, and wittily lucid for adults. […] Taufer and his dramaturg Dubravko Mihanović skilfully balance on the edge of caricature and the ability of the impossible, between fiction and real, between a cartoon and animated cartoon. Every single rule of this musical – meowsical – works: it’s sung well enough, and in part excellent, consistently excellent in the execution of music, and at the same time, just like Baal by the same team of authors at the same theatre, a skilfully structured whole. Entertainment, but not at all superficial.
Andrej Rozman Roza retains as his starting point the well-known Grimm Brothers’ tale, in which a crafty tomcat uses tricks to help his owner win a princess and the throne, but in addition to retelling it in rhymes, he artfully modernises it into a topical social satire. […] The genre diversity of the music, composed by Jure Ivanušič and Nana Forte, strengthens the message, and live music performed by mostly professional musicians creates special atmosphere.
The musical text, enriched with entertaining and socio-critical lines, is easy to follow for adults and children alike. The recommended age is 7 plus. The diverse music score, composed by Nana Forte and Jure Ivanušič, distinguishes this staging. The excellent live music performance is complemented with energetic – and in the context of directorial and dramaturgical concept of characters as two-dimensional caricatures – maximally perfected acting creations. All this is supported by rich costumes and stage design and, particularly in the first part, attractive use of animated images. The production is thus quite efficient, colourful, loud, dynamic; it feeds the senses, but it metes out space for our own imagination very sparingly.
The performance was selected in the catalogue of quality stagings on the platform Zlata paličica.
