Me and my blog

Follow me on Twitter @emma1hartley

Sunday 3 January 2016

The Little Match Girl: what Frank Moon did next

Frank Moon: now there's a name to conjure with. This alumnus of The Urban Folk Quartet has done loads of good work on the folk scene, having also been integral to The Destroyers. So it was a curious pleasure to see him on stage at the Lilian Baylis studio at Sadler's Wells last night in The Little Match Girl, having broken out, so to speak.

Looking at his CV, I realise now that this a somewhat partial, folk-orientated perspective. But still...


I wasn't quite sure how he got there. So after watching this blissfully realised - but appallingly sad - story, I asked him.

"Why, why does the little match girl have to die?" I pleaded first, my thoughts already halfway to Syria and the refugee crisis. The traces of my new year's hangover might also have had a hand in it.

"I know, it's awful, isn't it?"

However, as he'd been working on the show with its choreographer, Arthur Pita, on and off for more than three years the misery of The Little Match Girl's existence must have long been a secondary concern: you just wouldn't be able to get any work done otherwise.

So how did it happen?

"I met Arthur through The Destroyers at the Birmingham Dance Festival over five years ago. The band was asked to write some music for him and they nominated me to do the composing, which became Utopia.

"Then a little while later I had a call from him, saying that he'd found it very easy working with me and had a commission from the Royal Opera House to do Metamorphosis, based on the Kafka novel. Would I be interested?"

Nice. This what they call "the big time".

"So I said yes! And the Little Match Girl has been our third collaboration: this is the third Christmas in a row that it's been on. It's just that the first year it was on in Ipswich and didn't get reviewed until it came to London."

The show is primarily a dance piece, as you would expect given the venue. So the music is integral to the show: Moon composed and performs it, on stage, surrounded by a panoply of musical instruments, including a fiddle, oud, theramin and ocarina, making layers of sound. The theramin creates the difference between the faintly Dickensian tone of the first half of the show and the dreamlike sequence, set on the moon, that follows the little match girl's unnecessary death from cold, brought on by poverty and having no adults to take care of her. Excuse me while I struggle to compose myself again...

Moon, brilliantly, wears a motorcycle helmet with an aerial on top when he plays the theramin. Because yes.

The scraps of dialogue in the show are in Italian. "Because Arthur - who is Portuguese himself - didn't want the thing to feel exactly like Dickens. I worked on the words with a couple of the cast members, who are from Italy."

Since then Moon and Pita have done something else for the Royal Ballet called Whelan Watson: other stories and on the night I saw him, Moon was recovering from the disappointment of hearing that the show's transfer to New York had been postponed, despite tickets already having been on sale.

So he's doing OK, Frank Moon. You can catch The Little Match Girl in Manchester, at The Lowry, and in Ipswich at Dance East before the end of this run. And then he's off to Taipei with it for a while.

As I left the theatre the full extent of what this means came home when I looked at the three production posters on the wall outside the Lilian Baylis studio.

There was The Little Match Girl, with Moon's name on the poster.


 There was this one, which we all know, with music by Howard Blake.


 And then there was this one.


 You might just be able to read who did the music for that one: Tchaikovsky.  Moon's in good company.



* If you liked this post you might be moved by the final picture to read an earlier blog called A Gallery of Folk Musicians Lying in Foliage. Or this one about another of the folk scene's successful theatrical composers, John Tams, who wrote the music for War Horse.

* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook newsfeed, you could *like* its Facebook page and then use the drop-down menu to indicate that it's one of your interests. This will enhance the possibility that you'll get them. You could also follow me on Twitter @emma1hartley

18 comments:

  1. Simply experienced the points of interest of the shocking review.
    Escorts Services in Kolkata
    Kolkata Escorts
    Escorts in Kolkata

    ReplyDelete

  2. TOP Luxury Best Hotls Service In pakistani Provider Escorts in lahore ❤️

    Vip Hot Sex Female Models Provider Mem Dolly (+92305.3777077 ) Call Now Safe And Secure Hotels Door Service call girls in lahore

    hello..! ✅ Good news for you we add some new girls in your Town (Lahore). we also have School and college going girls in Lahore.
    If you search Escorts Girls in Lahore you see my website on this website you found 20 girls in Lahore. Our girls are not typicl call girls in lahore. we also give you service in any hotel in Lahore.
    Escorts in Lahore is the bigest escorts service in Lahore
    Lahore Escorts
    Elite Lahore Escorts
    Call girls in Lahore
    Call girls in pakistani
    vip Call girls in pakistan
    best Call girls in pakistani Lahore
    best vip Call girls in pakistan
    pakistan call girls
    pakistan escorts service
    pakistan vip escorts
    Call girls in pakistan lahore Mem dolly +92 305 3777077 call now 📞

    ReplyDelete
  3. very nice posts. really to be appreciated awsome and a great stuff keep posting like this.having a great smile here .too good putlocker

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cừ Tràm Thái Dương là nhà cung cấp cừ tràm xây dựng, cột chống bạch đàn, cừ dừa, phên tre xây dựng, cót tre trang trí, tấm mê bồ tre giá rẻ uy tín chất lượng hàng đầu hiện nay tại TPHCM và các tỉnh. Hotline: 0888.888.767. CID https://www.google.com/maps?cid=4975960960674761550. Vựa Cừ Tràm nằm tại địa chỉ 550 Quốc Lộ 1A, Tổ 11, Khu Phố 1, An Phú Đông, Quận 12, TP.HCM. Email: thaiduong@cutram.vn. Website: cutram.vn

    ReplyDelete
  5. https://www.uttarakhandescort.com/
    Uttarakhand Escort Service | Uttarakhand Call Girls
    Dehradun Escort Service
    Get Escort Service in Uttarakhand at low price by Miss Kajal 000000000. Our escorts agency offers luxurious and beautiful Uttarakhand female model escorts
    Uttarakhand call girls, call girls in Uttarakhand, young girls, call girl Uttarakhand, escorts in Dehradun, escort service in dehradun, dehradun call girls, dehradun escort, escort in dehradun, dehradun escort service, hariyana escorts service, dehradun independent Escorts , dehradun escorts, escort service in dehradun, dehradun escorts agency.
    Escorts service in Uttarakhand,
    Call Girls in Uttarakhand,
    Escorts Service in Dehradun,
    Call Girls Service in Dehradun,
    Escorts Service in Mussoorie,
    Escorts Service in rishikesh,
    Dehradun Escort Services,
    Call girls in nainital,
    Call girls in haldwani,

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello, friends, I am Sneha Singh from Mumbai and I am working with Mumbai Escorts for a long time and I am providing the best escorts service all over India. we provide you the best service at very low and affordable price escorts. If you want to take the service from me then come here:
    Ghazipur Escorts
    Gonda Escorts
    Gorakhpur Escorts
    Hamirpur Escorts
    Hapur Escorts
    Hardoi Escorts

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mumbai Call Girl and Female Model Escort Services in Mumbai for your spicy erotic desires. Mumbai Escorts is the best Escorts Girls service in Mumbai free and paid sex incall and outcall independent agency. If you are interested please contact me for more information visit our website.
    Mumbai Escorts Service

    ReplyDelete
  10. Escorts welcomes you to a very beautiful Independent Call Girls and Escort Service. We Provide Female escorts in working 24*7.
    Call Girls Escorts Chandigarh
    Call Girls Escorts Panchkula
    Call Girls Escorts Zirakpur
    Call Girls Escorts Mohali
    Call Girls Escorts Ludhiana

    ReplyDelete
  11. Fulfill your needs with Jaipur call girls and feel how much you can enjoy Jaipur escorts. Use our best escorts services in Jaipur.
    Jaipur Escort Services
    Independent Jaipur Escorts
    Call Girl in Jaipur
    Jaipur Escort Girl
    Escorts Agency in Jaipur
    Escorts Jaipur Girl

    ReplyDelete
  12. Welcome to VIP Murree Escorts Agency, we are providing Pakistan's most beautiful girls if you want to spend a night with the best beauty of Murree Pakistan then you come to the right place. Murree VIP Escorts

    Escorts in Murree

    ReplyDelete
  13. Our Girls Escort Agency in Islamabad Pakistan offers you sensational sessions of domination by the most delightful escort girls you can discover in Pakistan. Islamabad VIP Escorts
    Sexy Escorts Islamabad
    Best Escorts Islamabad
    VIP Escorts in Islamabad
    Students Escorts in Islamabad
    Top Escorts Service in Islamabad
    Luxury Escorts Islamabad
    Sex Service in Islamabad

    ReplyDelete
  14. VIP Escorts Service Know You're Going to Love Sharing Your Intimate Moments With Our Escorts Girls, So Don't Think About it So Much and Call or Visit My Website For VIP Escorts Services in Islamabad & Lahore. Come and Enjoy an Encounter Filled With Extreme Pleasure. Escort Service in Lahore.pleases visit our website for Pakistani Best Escorts Service.
    Call Girls in Lahore
    Best Escorts in Islamabad
    Female Escorts in Islamabad

    ReplyDelete

Emma Hartley blog logo

24hourlondon logo

Did David Hasselhoff End the Cold War?