Review: Snow White: The Mirror Cracked?

Kristoph Klover and Margaret Davis’
Snow White, the Mirror’s Revenge

by Helena Domenic

Flowing Glass Music. Released: September, 2016

preview track: http://www.flowinglass.com/ourfuture.mp3

The music on this CD is intended to be for a musical theatre production based on what happens to Snow White AFTER her rescue by Prince Charming. Billed as “The Story You Think You Know,” The Mirror’s Revenge tells us whether Snow White lived happily ever after, and what the consequences of her long sleep and the jealousy of the Evil Queen might be. The album contains nine original songs, written by iconic Celtic rockers Kristoph Klover and Margaret Davis of Avalon Rising, with lyrics by dark fantasy novelist Jay Hartlove. It is clear that this effort has been produced with much love, and with assistance from others who believe in the project. Celtic Rockers Avalon Rising (founded by Klover and Davis) provide the musical accompaniment. The CD has been released as part of a Kickstarter Campaign to raise funds to create the CD and to produce the play itself. It is a very ambitious endeavor, and one that seems to be succeeding quite well, as the goal of reaching enough money to produce the CD has been reached, and the collaborators seem to be close to reaching their goal of $5000 in order to produce the play for stage. A showcase was held at Baycon in June 2016 to bring more awareness to the project, and by all accounts was a smashing success.

The entire cast list includes:

Lyricist — Jay Hartlove
Snow White — Margaret Davis
Prince Charming — Kristoph Klover
Queen Bellaverna — Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
Hans and Birgette — Paul Kwinn and Taunya Gren
Brother Daniel — Mikkel McDow
Master Po — Mark Ungar
Master Wing — Robert Hill
Master Sai — Morgan McDow
Father Heinrich — J.Jeff Badger
Guards — Jim Partridge, Dominic Bridwell

Following the lyrics to the songs and reading the story on Flowinglass Music’s webpage, I listened to the album, and found the tale easy to follow and understand as it unfolded through the music and lyrics. I believe it would be very engaging indeed to see it all unfold as performed onstage live by performers, although there were aspects to the story that made me wish Snow White herself had had more agency in her own story. She sings in the first cut on the album, “Unlocked Who I Am,” that “The man has unlocked who I am/And I can finally breathe/ The man has unlocked who I am/ His kiss, is life to me.” Of course, the original fairy tale is hardly a feminist’s dream, but I would have liked to have seen Snow White (her role is sung by Margaret Davis) herself having a bit more gumption. When she finally decides to act to save herself, it is for her unborn son that she makes a move. Prince Charming, sung by Kristoph Klover, does credit Snow White with making his success possible, although as I mentioned, hardly a feminist’s dream.

An interesting twist in the story is Hartlove’s choice to make the seven dwarves Buddhist monks from Siam. I am not an expert in Eastern religions, but I find displaced monks living in Renaissance era Germany (as stated in the synopsis on the album’s home page: http://www.flowinglass.com/snow.html) a little hard to swallow, amusing as the idea may be.

Having said all of that, I admire the love and effort that has gone into crafting this work and the dedication of the writers and performers involved – it has been nine years in the making. Given the story’s setting in sixteenth century Germany, I suppose I should not be terribly surprised at Snow’s lack of agency in her own life. The music is beautifully arranged, and the singers (Margaret Davis singing the part of Snow White, Kristoph Klover singing Prince Karl Charming) portraying the characters ring true. The sounds straddle the worlds of musical theater, Renaissance Faire, and fairy folklore harmoniously. The track “Summer Ended Early” reminded me very much of the 70’s era Prog-rock band Renaissance, with lovely strains of acoustic guitar followed up by an electric guitar. Margaret Davis reminds me greatly of Annie Haslam, a very clear and pure voice.

I enjoyed the music and the story very much, whatever my own reservations about yet another damsel in despair story, and not being certain of Buddhism’s place in sixteenth century Germany. If you like Galavant and Once Upon a Time, you will be sure to love this album. You can listen to tracks from the album and purchase it here: http://www.flowinglass.com/snow.html

Premiere: The Mirror’s Revenge showcased at Baycon Sunday, May 29, 2016. 7:00 PM. http://www.baycon.org