Bird's-eye view: 'Peter & the Wolf' homage from Isaac Mizrahi coming to Guggenheim

When artist and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi can't sleep, it's usually the symphonic children's fairy tale "Peter & the Wolf" that dances through his brain late at night as he lies in bed with his eyes closed.

"It's really, really, deeply, deeply embedded in my physical and emotional system," he said of Sergei Prokofiev’s classic. "The music feels magical to me. It transports me to a different time."

The piece has loomed large over his life, with fond childhood memories of the Leonard Bernstein recording, as well as David Bowie's 1978 version.

Mizrahi's take has been produced at the Guggenheim in New York since 2007, part of the performing arts series Works & Process. 

Suffice it to say he has the piece memorized.

And so, "when this pandemic hit, I turned to these comforting thoughts," he said.

And from those thoughts sprung an idea for a companion piece, which was commissioned by Works & Process. "Third Bird" will be performed at the Guggenheim June 3 to 5.

Mizrahi wrote the libretto, narrates and directs, with music by Nico Muhly and choreography by John Heginbotham.

"Nico has written a very comfy score. It's a beautiful, beautiful score," Mizrahi said.

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The original piece, featuring the boy, the bird, the cat, the duck, the wolf and grandfather, presents a static system of nature. His work — which includes three birds, an ornithologist, a zookeeper and grandfather — hopes to show how the world has changed.

"The natural order of things now is much less about creatures eating each other and more about achievement and recognition and yearning to do something wonderful, yearning to be free," he said.

Mizrahi says this piece and his other recent ventures in the performance realm have brought him a newfound sense of accomplishment and contentment.

"The reason that I am in show business now is because it brings this satisfaction and joy that is other than the satisfaction and joy one might get from fashion and from clothing," he said. "It's a whole other level of joy. ... It feels more essential into who I am."

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"Third Bird" was developed in an April 2021 Works & Process bubble residency at the Catskill Mountain Foundation, and a November 2021 Works & Process LaunchPAD “Process as Destination” residency at The Church in Sag Harbor, New York.

"There are things about it that I feel are so relevant," he said. "There are also things about it that I feel are just incredibly beautiful, and I hope that as a work, it finds its footing in the modern-day classic repertoire."

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Performances of "Third Bird" are set for 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 3, and 2:30 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5. The 30-minute performances will take place in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. The show is recommended for ages 5 and up. Full vaccination is required. For more information, visit guggenheim.org/event/event_series/works-process.

To keep up with Mizrahi's work, visit helloisaac.com.

Ilana Keller is an award-winning journalist and lifelong New Jersey resident who loves Broadway and really bad puns. She highlights arts advocacy and education, theater fundraisers and more through her column, "Sightlines." Reach out on Twitter: @ilanakeller; ikeller@gannettnj.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Peter & the Wolf: Isaac Mizrahi homage coming to Guggenheim NY