Elementary Honor Choir students were the “Citizens of Lonesome Gulch” in the Opera for the Young performance of “The Elixir of Love.” CLICK PIC FOR MORE IMAGES IN OUR GALLERY
An opera and the Old West.
Those two worlds collided at Turtle Creek Elementary School on Thursday, March 2, as the Madison-based performance company Opera For the Young presented The Elixir of Love opera for all the school’s students.
The performance featured four professional opera singers and actors and a professional piano player. The cast was supported by supported by Darien Elementary School fourth and fifth grade singers in the district’s Elementary Honors Choir.
Opera for the Young brings live, professional opera to elementary school audiences. Each year, OFTY reaches over 75,000 elementary school children throughout the Midwest to ignite an enthusiasm for opera. All productions are fully staged, sung in English and adapted especially for kids. This year’s performance also included a little bit of Spanish as Turtle Creek is home to the county’s only Dual Language Education program.
Opera for the Young’s adaptation of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love moves the action to Lonesome Gulch, a town in the American Old West. Miss Addy, cowboy Jimmy Reno, and U.S. Army Sergeant Bill Corey form the love triangle of the story, with Dr. Dulcamara appearing as the “snake oil” peddler who sells the love potion (which is actually just root beer).
Students in the honor choir had bit-parts as a soldier and as a justice of the peace, and were also the singing “citizens of Lonesome Gulch,” the scene of the opera.
The Elixir of Love’s playful melodies and comical characters delight youngsters, while thematic points concerning coming of age, facing the trials and tribulations of life, and learning to forgive generate thoughtful discussion.
The performance at Turtle Creek was made possible through the financial support of the Delavan-Darien Friends of the Visual and Performing Arts.
For more on Opera For the Young see: http://ofty.org/