‘Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals’ celebrates species with song

Composer Stephanie Ann Boyd's Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals opens Sept. 18 and 19 at Honolulu's Hawaii Theatre, pairing orchestral movements with puppetry, dance, and spoken word to honor 13 species, including tigers, polar bears, blue whales, and the ivory-billed woodpecker. The piece mirrors Camille Saint-Saëns' 19th-century Carnival of the Animals in structure and length.

The kāhuli, a Hawaiian tree snail, is the only species native to the islands featured; state biologists estimate up to 90% of Hawaii's roughly 750 native land snail species have already vanished, and every surviving kāhuli in the genus Achatinella is federally listed as endangered. Musicians from the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, dancers from Ballet Hawaii, puppeteer Greg Corbino, and narrator Moses Goods collaborate on the production.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.