Date: 16 January 2016
Upstaged Rating: 
When the tale of The Little Match Girl comes up in conversation it is met with smiles and nostalgia for being a poignant childhood story. Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale about child poverty in the 19th century can be a tough moral lump to swallow – the sad ending of The Little Match Girl remains etched in your mind. This charming dance adaptation by choreographer Arthur Pita is uplifting and beautiful and with an ending so magical, The Little Match Girl will leave you smiling as you wipe the tear from your eye.
The story is set on an icy Christmas eve in a fictional Italian city, little Fiammetta skips along the streets selling her matches. Cold and hungry, she meets good and bad people on her journey – those who take pity and give her a gold coin and those who steal it back from her along with her shoes. Left with only one match to keep her warm, Fiammetta’s body cannot fight the freezing cold anymore. In a heartwarming scene, her beloved Grandmother appears to guide her up through the starry sky to the moon.
Designer Yann Seabra’s snowy terrain quickly transforms into a magical lunar landscape, complete with astronaut and moon buggy. Cloaked and top-hatted Frank Moon provides the astonishing ethereal soundtrack – playing the lute, a violin and a music box amongst others. Arthur Pita’s direction keeps the audience gripped, telling the classic story with a good dose of humour and an outstanding attention to detail – pitched perfectly for the recommended age of five and over.
A cast of just four conduct swift costume changes to play a total of eleven characters. Corey Annand puts in a skilled and delicate performance as the forlorn match girl Fiammetta while Valentina Golfieri burns brightly as the brutish match boy and the haughty daughter of the wealthy Donnarumma family. Angelo Smimmo shows off a superb singing voice as the father of the Donnarumma family and as Fiammetta’s celestial grandmother. The towering figure of Karl Fagerlund Brekke completes the impressive lineup, taking on four diverse roles which include the astronaut and Mother Donnarumma.
With a running time of just one hour, Arthur Pita’s The Little Match Girl is ideal for little children’s big imaginations. However, I highly recommend this enchanting adaptation as a must-see for all ages – just perfect in every way.
-Kristy Stott