City Parks Foundation’s Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre and SummerStage Festival present Pelleas et Melisande this weekend – a commissioned, site-specific work directed, choreographed, and designed by Luca Veggetti. A theatrical puppet experience that tells the story of doomed love based on Maurice Maeterlinck’s symphonic poem. Set to a composition by Arnold Schoenberg, the audience is taken on a journey of love and its consequences told through puppetry.

We caught the initial performance Wednesday evening and it was a magically evocative combination of puppetry, choreography and stage production.  It is a very special piece that should not be missed – and one which happily demonstrates the possibilities that a brilliant imagination and inspired performances can bring to the iconic theater.  We look forward to more “adult oriented” production in the future.