The Little Prince

Discover Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince and the characters in his fantastic universe through a musical tale overflowing with imagination, mystery and emotion. This production by L’Arsenal à musique is a daring blend of light, visual effects, multimedia and orchestral music by Canadian composers Denis Gougeon and Yves Daoust.

Winner of an Opus award in 2000 for best production for a young audience, The Little Prince follows the story of a pilot who following a crash landing in the middle of the desert is awakened by an enigmatic child who regales him with stories about his travels to distant planets.

Download the Teacher’s Guide (PDF)

Duration

Language

Age

Available versions

Technical Requirements

55 minutes

English, French

8 years old and up

2 narrators soloists and symphony orchestra

The Little Prince - Technical Rider (PDF)

TEAM

Creators

Multimedia designer

Composer

Author

Stage director

Mazouz Ould Abderrahmane

Costume designer

Sylvie Melançon

Conceptors & Artistic Directors

Reggi Ettore

Lorena Corradi

INSTRUMENTATION

2 flutes (the second one also plays the piccolo)
2 oboes
2 clarinets in B flat (the second one also plays bass clarinet)
2 bassoons
4 French horns
2 trumpets in C
1 tenor trombone

First violins
Second violins
Violas
Cellos
Double basses

Percussion 1: snare drum, glockenspiel, rain stick, mark-tree, whistle
Percussion 2: vibraphone, bass drum, hi-hat cymbal

Jacques Collin

multimedia design

Renowned especially for his collaboration with Robert Lepage’s company Ex Machina (with whom he has been working since 1992), Jacques Collin has earned an international reputation as a multimedia artist. His visual creations have won him numerous prizes and awards both at home and abroad.
Planet Baobab is his first collaboration with l’Arsenal à musique.

Yves Daoust

composer

It was while working as a sound technician at the National Film Board of Canada that Yves Daoust discovered electroacoustic music. His music is figurative, using sounds from nature and from daily life.
He has composed over thirty works for musical ensembles and theatre groups. A founding member of the Association pour la création et la recherche électroacoustique du Québec, and certified composer at the Canadian Music Centre, he also teaches electroacoustic composition at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec.
For l’Arsenal à musique, he composed the score for Eary Adventures and, together with Denis Gougeon, the music for Planet Baobab and Alice.

Denis

Denis Gougeon

composer

Hailed as one of the most gifted composers of his generation, Denis Gougeon is often called upon to create works for orchestras and performers in Canada and abroad, for concert music as well as for theatre and dance productions.
Acclaimed by audiences and critics in North America and in Europe, his work is accessible, dynamic and very melodious. In November 2000, the Conseil québécois de la musique awarded him an Opus for composer of the year.
Gougeon composed the music for Planet Baobab and Alice along with Yves Daoust.

Michele

Michèle Marineau

author

Michèle Marineau worked as a freelance editor before launching a double career as a translator and author of children’s books. She won the Governor General’s Award in 1988 for her first book of fiction, Cassiopée ou l’été polonais, and has since received many prestigious honours for her books for children.
Michèle Marineau’s first collaboration with l’Arsenal à musique was her adaptation of Planet Baobab, a musical inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince.

Mazouz

Mazouz Ould Abderrahmane

stage director

Filmmaker, scriptwriter and stage director, Mazouz settled in Quebec in 1977, after a prolific career as actor and stage director in his native Algeria and in France. Well known for his work at the National Film Board of Canada and at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Mazouz has since branched out into scriptwriting, producing and stage directing.
Planet Baobab is Mazouz’s third collaboration with l’Arsenal à musique since 1996.

Sylvie