Katie and the Mona Lisa will be at Pleasance One, Pleasance Courtyard from Wednesday 5 to Monday 31 August 2015 at 12.50pm. Katie and the Mona Lisa is a new musical based on James Mayhew’s best-selling book which follows Katie’s extraordinary adventures inside famous paintings. The musical is directed by Emmy Award winner Adrian Brown with music composed by Robert Hainault. The book and lyrics are by Adrian Brown, set design is by Julie Godfrey. The musical director is Mike Turnbull and lighting is by Kailey Willetts. There will be a cast of 6 – names to be announced.
Katie and her Gran are visiting an art gallery to see the famous painting of the Mona Lisa. Katie wonders why the Mona Lisa is smiling and, to her delight, she comes to life! But Katie soon discovers that Mona Lisa is lonely and that, in fact, her smile is starting to fade. They set off around the gallery for a magical adventure through a series of famous Renaissance paintings, searching for someone who can restore Mona Lisa’s smile. They visit Raphael’s St George, helping him biff a HUGE hungry dragon, they dance with gods and goddesses in Botticelli’s ‘Primavera’, and fly over Venice on Carpaccio’s winged lion – all the time evading the grumpy gallery guard.
There are 7 new songs which include ‘Hey there, Mona Lisa’, Mine’s A Most Important Job’ ‘Primavera’, ‘Venice, City on the Water’, ‘Angel’s Song’, ‘Mona Lisa Smile’.
James Mayhew is the best-selling author and illustrator of the classic Katie’s Picture Show series, introducing children to great works of art for 25 years. He is also the creator of the Ella Bella ballerina books, and many others. He is well-known for his unique work presenting family concerts with orchestras (with live illustration!), as a story-teller, educator and set-designer. There was a major retrospective exhibition from Nov to March 2015 at the National Gallery of Scotland of James Mayhew’s original artwork. This celebrated 25 years of the Katie books series. There is also a new Katie range of merchandise at the National Gallery in London.
Adrian Brown directed Terence Rattigan’s ‘Less Than Kind’ which was at Jermyn Street Theatre and for two UK tours. The music is composed by Robert Hainault who was also the musical director at the Croydon Warehouse workshop in 2013. Robert is the organist and director of Music at St Agnes Kennington Park. He is composing a new score for ‘Collodi: The Man Behind Pinocchio’ and ‘Here Lies Leopold Last’.
Wednesday 5 – Monday 31 August 2015, 12.50pm, running time: 65 mins
Pleasance Courtyard Box Office: 0131 556 6550 Previews Wed 5 – Fri 7 August 2015
Tickets: £9.00 – £12.50, Previews £6.00 (no perfs Mon 17 and Mon 24 Aug)
Pleasance One, Pleasance Courtyard, 60 Pleasance, Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ
Venue 33
Twitter: @KatieLive2015
