NEW YORK — If the costumes are any indication, the Guggenheim Museum's annual production of Peter and the Wolf looks this year set to be an animalistic dance-off contrasting some elegant ballerina types with other rough, free-styling "street" characters.
But the designs' creator Isaac Mizrahi — who also crafted the set of Central Park and directed the actors and dancers — recoils at the suggestion that the project is one where theater meets fashion.
Even though he is perhaps best known for being a ready-to-wear designer, Mizrahi has in recent days — after licensing his name and selling his company, now comprising four labels, to Xcel Brands for a reported $31.5 million in 2011 — been involved in more and more creative pursuits that have little to do with the design studio, boutique or runway. (A nice breakdown of his day-to-day involvement at his parent company, however, is detailed here.)
Having made his directing debut in 2010 with a production of A Little Night Music at the Opera Theater of St. Louis, for which he also designed the costumes and set, the irrepressible multihyphenate will see his latest creation open tomorrow (December 7) to sold-out audiences at the museum's Peter B. Lewis theater. The concert will also see him reprise his role as narrator for the 7th consecutive year.
“I don’t like having the word ‘fashion’ applied to this,” Mizrahi told BLOUIN ARTINFO on the phone while on his way to a rehearsal. “I mean, there are costumes but there’s no real fashion involved. I wouldn’t even strictly say I designed them — they’re just what I think helps to illustrate the concept of each character. The music kind of dictates who the characters are before I conceive anything.”
Fortunately, Mizrahi was still game to discuss his costume designs and character ideas for the show, starting with the Duck, played by Maira Kalman, an illustrator, designer and author, and a close friend of his: “Since I’ve been a balletomane my whole life, it was a forgone conclusion that the Duck should be wearing a tutu. She’s a funny idea – kind of tickling rather than laugh-out-loud — and somehow all these years I’ve been thinking about Maira in the role. It’s meant to be.”
Keeping with the balletic theme is another light-footed character, the Bird (Julie Cunningham), which Mizrahi said he’s always envisioned as a ballerina in pointe shoes. “That’s the closest I can get to flying,” he said, matter-of-factly.
Meanwhile, the two title characters, Peter (Macy Sullivan) and the Wolf (Daniel Pettrow), as well as the Grandfather (Gus Solomons Jr., another friend of Mizrahi's), have all been reimagined as quintessential New York caricatures — the latter even fashioned after the Brooklyn-born-and-raised designer himself.
“Peter is an Upper East Side kind of schoolboy, [the kind] who is mischievous on Madison Ave in their uniforms. The Wolf is a character that lives in Central Park — kind of a homeless, dangerous fugitive who should be in the zoo but is really hiding in plain sight,” he explained. “The grandfather is someone whom I'll ultimately become: A crazy New York kind of guy, hopefully very involved in the arts, or belonging to some kind of bridge club, and kind of grumpy. It’s the character closest to my personal alter ego.”
Whereas previous stagings of the 1936 Sergei Prokofiev classic have featured sets by artists such as Will Cotton (2012) and Jason Hackenwerth (2011), Mizrahi emphasized that for all his roles in this year's production, his ultimate approach was really borne of the desire to use dance and movement to reinterpret the oeuvre, with the simultaneous aim to introduce the different elements of an orchestra to children — just as its original creator intended it.
“Working with John [Heginbotham, the show’s choreographer], is great, and is a big part of my ability to do the show,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve been thinking about motifs, ideas, and what the music means, and this is a great opportunity for me to fulfill all those fantasies. What I hope to do with this show is to make it amusing, and give kids a grasp of artistic composition or help them associate the flute with the bird, or the oboe with the duck.”
The Juilliard Ensemble, conducted by George Manahan, will provide the soundtrack. The costumes are just part of “creating mnemonic images that will really solidify this for them,” he added.
