WASO’s Fairytale Ball, WA Symphony Orchestra & AWESOME Festival ·
Perth Concert Hall, 1 October 2022 ·

Every fairytale character that’s stepped foot in your imagination can probably be brought to life by a piece of orchestral music. This is the quest that charismatic Perth conductor Jessica Gethin set out to accomplish in Fairytale Ball, a special collaboration with the WA Symphony Orchestra (WASO), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Awesome Festival. 

The show is the brainchild of Gethin’s many nights reading bedtime tales to her children, and involves narration, immersive big-screen graphics, and well-loved classics from the likes of John Williams, Tchaikovsky and Grieg. The result is a well-curated showcase of classical music’s finest fairytale offerings: rapturous for the young adventurer, and wholesome for those of us wishing to rekindle the excitement of our own childhood imaginations. 

The show is quite literally a page-turning event, using cues from mystical harp glissandi to turn the digital pages of an enchanted storybook projected on the screen and transitioning us from one sound world to the next. The audience is invited to tiptoe, soar and dance their way through lands of fairies and knights on a quest to discover the elusive firebird and make safe passage to the Fairytale Ball. 

Gethin abandons traditional performance etiquette in an attempt to connect with younger listeners, sweeping in from the back of the auditorium to find her way through curious gazes to her final place on the podium. She’s discarded the concert blacks in favour of bright pink pants and a white blazer, and she fits right in among the fluffy princess tutus and wizard costumes in the crowd. 

It is a full house at the Perth Concert Hall. “Who here is seeing the WA Symphony Orchestra for the first time?” is met by a chorus of excited “yes’s” and raised hands. And the central thesis of the show: “Did you know that music can create images in our minds without having to use words?”

The production itself is a winsome marriage of all aspects of immersive performance. A large screen behind the orchestra shows snippets of scene-setting graphics crafted by Pip Bartlett, which cut to close-up camerawork of the capable WASO musicians under the shifting colours of the venue’s lighting. The cherry on top is the surprise appearance of fairy ballerina Melissa McCabe, who draws gasps from the crowd when she is summoned by the plucked strings of Tchaikovsky’s much-beloved Nutcracker. 

Gethin excels in brief moments of musical education, referencing the full toolkit of orchestral sound to illustrate that musical imagery exists because instruments have an incredible range of techniques at their disposal. It’s done so effortlessly that it succeeds at educating without patronising older audience members. 

Mindful of the attention spans of the roving young mind, the show limits its programming of slower pieces to just one entrancing dip into Debussy. As if sensing the restlessness bound to follow, Gethin rouses sleepy audiences with a call to action: “I think we all need a big stretch!”

And so the show flows on, with opportunities to dance, copy the musicians, or conduct along with Gethin. The challenge of keeping children engaged means stunning violin solos like the one closing Westlake’s Flying Dream were lost to the murmuring of energetic voices, but it’s also evidence of Gethin’s success at creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Overflowing with playful gestures, WASO’s Fairytale Ball is an accessible taste of the magic which comes from experiencing live orchestra, and reminds us that fairytales can be for everyone — young or old. 

WASO’s next children’s concert is ‘Toy Story in Concert’ in January 2023.

Pictured top: Jessica Gethin abandons traditional concert etiquette in ‘Fairytale Ball’. Photo: Daniel James Grant