THE BEAR (an animated film) op.496 (March 1998)

Commissioned by: Channel 4/TVC/Miramax
Instrumentation: Girl soprano, tenor, bass 2121 2111 2pc pno/cel hp str
[Key to Abbreviations]
Note on Lyrics: Lyrics by Howard Blake
Duration: 26 mins
First Performance: Recorded 30/31 March 1998 Whitfield Street Studios sound engineer Mike Ross, Girl soprano (Charlotte Church), tenor (Martyn Hill), bass (Peter Knapp) and orchestra
Channel 4/Miramax animated film released on DVD 1999

Notes

Film based on the book by Raymond Briggs, directed by Hilary Audus, produced by John Coates

The animated film of 'The Bear' was made by the same team that made ‘The Snowman’ based again on a story by Raymond Briggs and first shown on Channel 4 TV on Christmas Eve 1998. It is like a companion-piece to ‘The Snowman’ except that the hero is a small girl – sung on the film by Charlotte Church.

A young girl, Tilly, visits the zoo with her mum and dad, but accidentally drops her best loved toy into the polar bear's pit. That night, Tilly cries herself to sleep, only to wake and find a huge polar bear standing over her- he's come to return her precious teddy.

So begins a magical friendship with some bear-size complications, the biggest problem being how to keep such an enormous pet hidden from her parents. Everything changes when The Bear hears a call of the wild from the spirit of The Great Bear who descends from the constellation in the sky to embark on an extraordinary night adventure across the City of London.

The Polar Bear is represented by a tenor and the Star-Bear by a bass-baritone. All three singers join in the song ‘Somewhere a star shines for everyone’, sung as they skate down the frozen Thames and again at the end.
 

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