Pick of the Day: Little Red Riding Hood

Not to be confused with the popular Sask-Tel advertising campaign (pictured at left), this post concerns a special kids' concert that the Regina Symphony Orchestra is presenting this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. at Conexus Arts Centre.

In the past, the RSO has presented similar concerts showcasing child-friendly works like Prokofiev's Peter & the Wolf where different musical instruments are used to represent different characters. Like the aforementioned Sask-Tel ads, which you're surely familiar with since they run constantly in pretty much every media outlet in Saskatchewan except for maybe two, this concert isn't a literal recreation of the famous fairy tale. It dates back to the Middle Ages, after all. There were no cell phones back then. No high speed internet. Stuff like that.

Similarly, this RSO concert is based on an imaginitive retelling of the fairy tale by Roald Dahl -- the author responsible for such children's classics as James & the Giant Peach and Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. All the familiar characters are there, perhaps even the coded reference to female sexual awakening via the girl's red cloak which symbolizes the onset of menses, it's just that things have been twisted around a bit. Just like in those Sask-Tel ads.

To conclude, here's another imaginitive retelling of Little Red Riding Hood courtesy of Monty Python. (YouTube)