‘Boy Who Grew Too Fast’ is kid-friendly opera
Caleb Madison is the title character in ‘The Boy Who Grew Too Fast’ at Lincoln Park. The cast includes (L-R) Charina Kimes, Taylor Modro, Abby Prepelka, Morgan Hopkins, Caleb Madison, Helen Candea, Breanne Hernandez, Jake Hopkins and Trey Singletary.
A doctor with a shrinking machine, a boy who is just too tall for his age and a lesson about being yourself are all part of the child-friendly opera “The Boy Who Grew Too Fast” by composer Gian Carlo Menotti. One public performance is planned for Friday, Jan. 21, at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center.
“It’s a short opera, really kid-friendly, about a boy who is insanely taller than all the other kids. They make fun of him so he goes to a doctor, Dr. Schrinck, who has a shrinking machine and makes him the same size as the other boys in his school,” said director Christiana Howell.
When the school is threatened, Poponel learns that being yourself and doing the right thing is more important than being like others and fitting in.
Tickets are $5 and may be purchased through the Lincoln Park box office at 724.643.9004 for this Opera Workshop production of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School Music Department. Seating in the studio theater is limited to 180. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. The performance is in three scenes and will last about 50 minutes.
The production is a good way to introduce both performers and a young audience to opera, where all the dialogue is sung, said Howell. She said part of the fun is that Lincoln Park teenage vocal students will sing and act the parts of 8-year-old children.
“Some of them have never done anything like this before,” she said. “It is really funny and light-hearted.”
Caleb Madison plays the title character of Poponel. Morgan Hopkins plays Miss Hope the teacher. The part of Dr. Schrinck is played by Joshua Jones, a voice instructor at Lincoln Park.
Other cast members are Charina Kimes, Taylor Modro, Jake Hopkins, Helen Candea, Trey Singletary, Emily Slopek, Haylie Thomas, Abbey Prepelka, Elaina Moorehead and Breanne Hernandez,
This Opera Workshop production was chosen and cast by voice instructor Kelly DeFade prior to her departure from Lincoln Park for a position at the CAPA school in Pittsburgh. Howell, a music department teacher and voice instructor, took over as director.
The production is to be presented for the children of Midland’s Neel Elementary School on a date to be determined.
Gian Carlo Menotti was a Pulitzer Prize-winning Italian-American composer best known for his Christmas opera written for television, “Amahl and the Night Visitors.”
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
