Hal Cazalet: The Palace of Sans Souci
As a child I loved reading Oscar Wilde’s fairytales and The Happy Prince became embedded into my psyche. I have been adapting the story for the musical stage, and I hope you don’t think it too self indulgent that as I sign off, I share a song from it here with you. Well, I guess it’s a big part of who I am and what I do.
Here in the story, the Statue of a Prince tells a Swallow (his new friend) of his enchanted childhood in the Palace of Sans Souci, where a lofty wall shielded him from the cares of the outside world. The Prince explains that when he died, his courtiers set him up on a plinth so high that he could see over the wall and witnesses the suffering and poverty of his city.
I beg you to read the fairytale if you haven’t read it as you are in for a treat.
‘THE PALACE OF SANS SOUCI’ FROM THE MUSICAL OF THE HAPPY PRINCE WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY HAL CAZALET
This post originally ran on April 1, 2016.
The devilishly funny and sublime English tenor Hal Cazalet is a NYFOS favorite. He’s been heard at the English National Opera, the Aldeburgh Festival, Glyndebourne on Tour, Lincoln Center, and Dallas Opera, among other venues around the world. As a composer and lyricist, he has written stage musicals as well as instrumental and choral works.
Read other posts by Hal Cazalet.