Toy Box (2010)
Photo: Frank Wojciechowsk
Premiere: Princeton University, Lewis Center for the Arts
Choreography & Direction: Rebecca Lazier
Assistant to Director: Jennie Scholick
Music: Claude Debussy’s The Toy Box, score completed in 1913
Musicians: Princeton University Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Branker
Dancers: Students from Princeton University
Set Designer: Ricardo Hernandez
Costume Designer: Anita Yavich
Lighting Designer: Aaron Copp
The Toy Box was left partially un-orchestrated at the time of the composer’s death in 1918. Most available recordings use an orchestration completed by Debussy’s student. Music Scholar Simon Morrison discovered a previously unknown version of the score that includes a new overture and diverges from other orchestrations in its instrumentation. This production was the first time this version was heard since the Moscow Chamber Theater performed it in 1918.
The choreography and narrative are original to this production. Between 1918 and today there have been many performances of the score with different staging concepts and choreography ranging from productions with puppets, children, and marionettes and from Russia to France to New York. For this production we worked collaboratively to create an imaginary play space where we could be transformed by our sense of discovery and curiosity.
