Beauty and the Beast

Péter Tóth’s Beauty and the Beast is a much-needed opera that is not only a fairy tale for children but also a work performed by children. It is a classic fairy-tale adaptation composed with full operatic ambition, seamlessly blending with the poetic elegance of librettist Anna Mechler’s text. “Welcome, my beautiful guest! / You are like the moonbeam in the sky! / Its gentle light shines down so fair, / And now you’ve come to me! My heart is full of joy! / Do not fear: my face is ugly, but my heart is kind, / Come, let us walk! The rose garden calls us to rest! / And if your lovely arm entwines with mine, dear girl, / Perhaps none on this earth will be happier than I!” Such lines will be heard in the opera, which, in its 45-minute runtime, is not meant to evoke the world of Walt Disney. Instead, it seeks to explore the nuances of emotional richness and the deeper question of how to find beauty in everything.
Following the success of The Tót Family in 2019, Péter Tóth now gifts the Eiffel Art Studios with another contemporary opera – one that brings together both adult and child performers, for an audience of all ages.