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A CHILDREN'S OPERA
By Marc Geelhoed
When children show up in operas, there's always something a little strange about them. They usually have some special gifts or are stand-ins for all that is good and innocent, only to be corrupted by the end of the work. A few operas, like Ravel's "L'enfant et les sortileges" ("The Bewitched Child"), are actually meant for an audience of children. That work, rather similar to "The Little Prince," depicts a youngster who doesn't want to do his homework and is accosted by the furniture for his disobedience. (That part isn't like "The Little Prince.") But he comes to learn a lesson from each of the pieces of furniture, much like The Little Prince learns from the grown-ups he encounters on his travels and the inhabitants he meets after he lands on Earth.
Other operas featuring children aren't particularly geared to young audiences and have a more somber outlook. Composer Benjamin Britten was a master of these, having written such devastating works as "Peter Grimes," "The Turn of the Screw," and "Death in Venice," after the Thomas Mann novella. The young apprentice dies in "Peter Grimes," the children tease their governess for seeing ghosts in "The Turn of the Screw," and the boy is an object of desire for an older man in "Death in Venice." Earlier in the 20th century, Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande" depicted the child as an innocent seer who is used by his father to spy on the title couple. At the opera's bloody end, an innocent baby is murdered after her mother, Mélisande, dies. Each child is on the receiving end of life's troubles, getting a rough education that is a far cry from the lessons learned by The Little Prince.
In "The Little Prince," the title character learns from the different worlds and people he meets upon leaving his small planet, Asteroid B-612. Composer Rachel Portman, director Francesca Zambello, and librettist Nicholas Wright stayed true to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's story and created an opera that appeals to both adults and children.
The Little Prince comes from a tiny planet where he is the only human, so he has no knowledge of the peculiarities of people's behavior. He's a blank slate. At home, he tends to three 18-inch-high volcanoes and a single rose. The Rose is his lone friend, one he worries over and cares for as if she were a person. It's in order to understand her better that he sets out on the quest that eventually brings him to Earth. Along the way, he meets an oddball collection of adults from all walks of life who are fancifully depicted in Portman's music and Zambello's direction. Each of these individuals make little sense to the young traveler, who sees the contradictions in their behavior far more clearly than they do.
Top banner photos: Joseph McManners as The Little Prince and Teddy Tahu Rhodes as The Pilot with The Little Prince (all photos by Adrian Brooks). |
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The Little Prince visits the planet of The King, played by Sir Willard White (photo by Adrian Brooks). |
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Young soprano Mairead Carlin as The Rose (photo by Adrian Brooks). |
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This program is available on DVD and as a double CD. |
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