Just a spoonful of culture

Trying to introduce young children to high culture can be like getting them to take their medicine. It’s good for them, even if it is difficult to swallow.

But that’s a challenge facing the L.A. Philharmonic -- how to convert Disney Channel viewers into Disney Hall habitues?

The Toyota Symphonies for Youth program, which includes Saturday’s adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet “Petrushka,” aspires to spread the good word of symphonic music to the city’s kids. It’s the second of six symphonic productions that are mounted on Saturday mornings during the orchestra’s fall season.

“For our youth concerts, we’re bringing in teams to create an original orchestral piece that illuminates the work but doesn’t compromise its integrity,” says Jessica Balboni, the L.A. Phil’s director of education. “The objective is always, what are the entry points that bring people, kids especially, into orchestral music?”

“Petrushka,” which features four professional dancers and a cast of 12 child actors, seems an especially daunting choice. Originally mounted by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1911, “Petrushka” is a tragic tale of a love triangle among three puppets who are brought to life by a magician during St. Petersburg’s annual Shrovetide fair.

At first blush, “Petrushka” (which loosely translates into “Punch”) seems like a natural for children -- all those puppets and that colorful Mardi Gras scenery. But in the original production Petrushka, who is spurned by the Princess in favor of the Moor, is killed at the conclusion of the ballet and then reappears as an apparition, haunting the magician who cruelly exploited him. Not the usual stuff of Disney feel-good films and Nickelodeon shows.

“ ‘Petrushka’ is the Everest of ballets,” says Peggy Hickey, the resident choreographer for the Los Angeles Opera who is working with the “Petrushka” cast. “It’s as hard as anything I’ve ever done, because the time signature changes every couple of bars. That’s why I needed ringers in the mix.”

The four adult dancers will play the principal characters -- the three puppets and the magician. “I gave them all CDs to listen to in their cars in order to master the music,” Hickey says. “You can’t wander into ‘Petrushka’ lightly.”

To bring the ballet down to a more manageable scale for children and lighten up some of its darker tones, Balboni recruited John de Lancie, a veteran TV, film and theater actor who produces and directs productions for the Philharmonic’s “First Nights” series. “ ‘Petrushka’ was not conceived as a children’s ballet, even though it involves puppets,” De Lancie says. “We’re on the outer limits of what’s child-appropriate here.”

De Lancie, Hickey and Alexander Mickelthwate, the assistant conductor of the L.A. Phil, shaved 15 minutes off “Petrushka’s” 40-minute running time, which, according to De Lancie, “is more than enough Stravinsky for a 7-year-old.” De Lancie also eliminated Petrushka’s death; instead, the children come to the puppet’s aid to defeat the Moor and the nefarious magician. “I’m a big believer in inspiring and entertaining kids, but not necessarily educating them with this,” says De Lancie. “For many of them, it will be the first ballet they’ve ever seen, so I’m happy if they walk away having had a good time.”

Time is a luxury De Lancie doesn’t have for this production. The child cast, which was recruited from Diane Hill Hardin’s Young Actors Space, has only four rehearsals to nail it all down with De Lancie, Hickey and Mickelthwate before Saturday’s performance. “I’d be happy to have run rehearsals for a month, but it gets expensive to do that,” De Lancie says.

For Balboni, “Petrushka’s” colorful pageantry is a perfect way to inculcate children to the glory of orchestral music and ballet. “There are different modalities of learning for children,” she says. “If a child is a physical learner -- someone who expresses himself through movement -- then the dancers might appeal to him. A visual learner might like the costumes, the lighting and the props. An interpersonal learner will be drawn in by the dialogue. It’s just good biology to approach it that way.”

Kids are omnivorous media consumers, viewing computer-generated movie effects and playing 3D video games. The team behind “Petrushka” aims to provide cultural nutrients through evocative movement and the L.A. Philharmonic’s lush interpretation of Stravinsky’s ballet in the hope that they might light a few sparks of inspiration among the kids in the audience.

“Kids are so imaginative, and they live in an unimaginative world,” Balboni says. “We want these concerts to show kids how to express themselves creatively.”

Marc Weingarten can be reached at weekend@latimes.com.

*

‘Petrushka’

What: Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, featuring the L.A. Philharmonic, as part of Toyota Symphonies for Youth program.

Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: Workshops (art, music, dance and theater activities for kids) begin at 10 a.m. Saturday in the lobby. Performance begins at 11 a.m.

Price: $15

Info: (323) 850-2000