PALM BEACH GARDENS — The Palm Beach Symphony offers its second-ever children’s concert Thursday with a morning performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ classic Carnival of the Animals.
Conducted by the young Greek-born pianist and conductor Zoe Zeniodi, the orchestra will present Saint-Saëns’ zoological spoof to the accompaniment of choreography by Jerry Opdenaker’s Gardens-based O Dance Company. Zeniodi, who did her graduate study at the University of Miami, also is the leader of the Broward Symphony and the Alhambra Orchestra.
This version of the Carnival will be set to a scenario in which a young girl in a South Pacific-style locale talks to her friends, the animals. Originally written for a gathering of his friends, Saint-Saens includes music evoking everything from elephants to kangaroos, fish to birds, and even beginning pianists. Its best-known excerpt is The Swan, a solo for cello.
The 10:15 a.m. free performance at the Eissey Campus Theatre at Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach Gardens is intended for children in grades three through six. Reservations can be made by calling the Eissey ticket office at 561-207-5900 or sending an email to fabera@plambeachstate.edu.
JUPITER — The Maltz Jupiter Theatre, coming soon to a record store near you.
OK, there are no record stores anymore. But the Maltz is dipping its toe into recording a cast album of an original musical it has created.
This Friday and Saturday evenings, Nov. 15 and 16, Through the Looking Glass, a hip, contemporary version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland tale, returns to the Maltz for its second year. Conceived and directed by producing artistic director Andrew Kato, with a score by his childhood friend and frequent collaborator John Mercurio (Academy), it features a cast of 31 area youngsters, aged 8 to 18.
If you like the show, you can buy a CD of the score at the theater. More than a souvenir of the musical, though, the disc will be a marketing tool to entice other theaters around the country to mount their own productions of Through the Looking Glass.