Le Petit Prince Lands in Cirque de Soleil
“Only children know what they are looking for. They are lucky. ”
The Switchman
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s novella Le Petit Prince was written in 1943 and has long been loved by French children, many of whom as adults, made the opening night at the Coliseum of the Broadway Entertainment Group’s production. The show is based on dance and circus skills with an animated backdrop showing planets or stars or birds. Saint-Exupéry was himself a pilot and his novel starts with a plane crash in the desert of the Aviator (Aurélian Bednarek) who has enough water for eight days.
There he meets the Little Prince (Dylan Barone). The narrator is the adaptor of the pretentiously called Libretto, or narrative, and associate director, Chris Mouron who speaks in French and wears a curious beetle costume topped with bright turquoise hair. A translation is provided by surtitles but as ever in shows which are largely visual, in the stalls you will have to choose whether to watch the dance and aerialists or read the titles.
The story arc traces the Prince’s journey from his tiny planet which he looks after by pulling up Baobab trees, those curiously fat trunked trees, narrowing to the top where horizontal foliage grows straight out as a canopy. They apparently strangle the single rose which grows on his planet. Full marks Saint-Exupéry for ecological relevance from 80 years ago. He also has to tend the miniature volcanoes which come up to his knees.
But first the Aviator is asked to draw a picture of a sheep and through the animation, many different sheep are drawn and come to life but only one will fit the request, one hidden in a box. The sheep dancers will occupy the stage as the Prince looks for his perfect sheep.
We are to travel to different planets with the yellow haired prince. Saint-Exupéry drew the magical illustrations as well as writing the text which I find has really odd ideas in places. But first we explore the concept of love with a single red rose (Marie Menuge) inspired by the fiery marriage of Saint-Exupéry to Consuelo Suncin whom he described as having “a bohemian spirit and a viper’s tongue”. Rose will dance with vanity, self absorption and petulance while the Prince worships her.
We visit six or seven planets, each to illustrate Saint-Exupéry’s view of the universe. There is the Planet of the King, an arrogant ruler, of the Drunkard, of the Vain Man, of the Roses and maybe the most disarming visually, the Planet of the Lamplighter where time speeds up and the lamp has to be lit and extinguished every minute. The Prince has seen 44 sunsets. The Businessman scene is dominated by mathematical and arithmetic projections and we are reminded that Saint-Exupéry compared flying modern planes to being “more like an accountant than a pilot”.
I liked Peggy Housset’s costume design, the way the rose dancers curved their petals above their heads into the bud formation. Terry Truck’s music is orchestral apart from Chris Houron’s song cycle at the end of the show.
Somehow despite the elegant choreography on display, the show failed to engage me emotionally but then I am not French and wasn’t brought up to appreciate Le Petit Prince as one of my most loved books. There is so much more competition now for the children’s theatre audience since this show was first brought into existence six years ago but it has been on a world tour to many places where it was greatly appreciated.
I do not count myself a fan of circus but I have to admire these dancers’ spectacular skill in hanging on the ribbon ropes with no safety harness. Dylan Barone achieves a remarkable performance in dance, aerial work and characterisation so he is always appealing. I have reservations about some scenes. I liked the dance with the Fox (Killian Mermet) but do not understand the fox’s desire to be tamed so that both he and the Prince will be unique. Saint-Exupéry’s novel is full of odd ideas so it would be wise to have had these introduced by reading the book first but the show is only on at the Coliseum until Sunday 16th March.
Production Notes
The Little Prince
Adapted by Chris Mouron from the novella Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Music by Terry Truck
Directed by Chris Mouron, Anne Tournié
Choreographed by Anne Tournié
Cast
With:
Chris Mouron
Dylan Barone
Aurélien Bednarek
Marta Kowalewska
Marie Menuge
Marcin Janiak
Filippo Di Crosta
Justine Gerard
Edouard Goux
Killian Mermet
Thomas Faure
Lee Kok Liang
Chiara D’Angelo
Patricio Di Stabile
Creatives
Director: Chris Mouron, Anne Tournié
Choreographer: Anne Tournié
Information
Running Time: One hours 45 minutes with an interval
Booking until 16th March 2025
Theatre:
London Coliseum
St Martin’s Lane
London WC2N 4ES
Website: https://londoncoliseum.org/
Rail/Tube : Charing Cross
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge at the
London Coliseum at the performance on
12th March 2025
