The Little Prince - October 27-30 - Booth Playhouse

Join us to celebrate 25 years of Moving Poets and The Little Prince

The last week of October 2022 marks exactly 25 years since Moving Poets opened its first public show for Halloween in 1997: Dracula. To celebrate the occasion we present the world premier of our original production of “The Little Prince”.

This multi media concert performance ride to strange planets and the desert is inspired by the French pilot & author “Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s” work and his mysterious disappearance during an air battle between allied and German forces in the second world war.

Originally prohibited in much of Europe, today “The Little Prince” is one of the world’s most known books with over 300 translations. From the perspective of our inner child, it investigates with great charm and depth friendship, loss, love, conflict, purpose, loneliness and having to grow old – in a world run by adults that always need to have everything explained.

Moving Poets original adaptation follows our unique format of highly creative, cross-cultural, contemporary musical theatre. It is developed and performed in various stages since Summer 2021 in Charlotte and Berlin (Germany) in collaboration with over 55 local, national and international musicians, dancers, actors, visual artists, composers and writers.

The performances are accompanied by “The Little Prince - Seeing with the Heart” - an exhibition in the Booth lobby of art work by regional and national visual artists. Inspired by the beloved 1943 novella "Le Petit Prince", the exhibition draws from the central themes of: innocence, imagination, fragility, identity, isolation, love and responsibility. The thirteen participating contemporary artists selected for the production and exhibition have uniquely explored these various concepts, using the common thread of visual language emphasized by Saint-Exupéry’s conviction that words have limits and truths can defy verbal explanation.

On Saturday, Oct 29; 7pm – 7:45pm, there will be an Artists and Curator’s talk at the Booth Lobby:

"The Little Prince – Seeing with the Heart" - open and free to the public.

“All grown-ups were children once – although few of them remember it.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The production is made possible with the support of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, the Arts & Science Council, the North Carolina Arts Council, the Charlotte Ballet, the Charlotte Ballet Academy, Awedience Media, Moving Poets Berlin and our friends and supporters.

Moving Poets' The Little Prince is rooted in contemporary dance-theater with a satirical edge and no fear of the absurd. Based on creatively integrating diverse art forms into an intriguing story, its images can be startling and eerily beautiful. Though clearly demonstrating an authentic handwriting, influences from Django Reinhardt to Pina Bausch or to Samuel Becket may come to mind. Musically it ranges from acoustic melodically on traditional instruments through avantgarde experimental compositions with sound objects, to 40th jazz club music.

The Little Prince's local, national and international artists are mostly Charlotte area residents. They come from North & South American, Indigenous, African, Asian, Middle Eastern and European backgrounds and range in ages from 7 to 77. They include uniquely talented young performers as well as award winning and highly accomplished veterans.