Most people have never thought about being in an opera. Now, everyone walking through the Belfry’s doors can have a chance to do just that.
Let’s Make An Opera & The Little Sweep is a unique piece by Benjamin Britten, a main player in 20th-century British classical music. It’s a play about the making of an opera in which the audience participates by taking an active role as the chorus.
“The first half of the show is the discussion of how to make an opera,” says Giuseppe Pietraroia, a conductor and chorus master at Pacific Opera Victoria. “The characters rehearse it, and then the audience sees a little bit of the rehearsal process, how the composer writes music, and how the singer learns it.”
In the show, as a character of the play, the conductor comes out and teaches the audience the chorus of the opera. It’s a very inventive way to get the audience involved in the show.
“This is an unusual work,” says Pietraroia, “in that it is a combination of both a straight play and an opera. An old lady, Miss Baggott, tells the story about a little sweep who is sent off to work because his injured father gets stuck in a chimney.”
Luckily, the children who live in the house find him and rescue him. They don’t want to give him back to the mean sweeps. They clean and feed him. It’s a beautiful story because children save another child. It’s also beautiful because of the opera and the funny storyline.
“All of the melodies are very charming and fun,” says Pietraroia. “The opera has a lot of fun writing. One of my personal favourites, one that I haven’t been able to hear yet because I haven’t had an audience, is one of the audience songs where the audience imitates birds. The melody has been going through my head. I’m looking forward to the audience’s participation. It’s just very beautiful.”
The audience will not only be able to see backstage at the opera but they will also learn gorgeous songs and be a part of the performance. Britten, the play’s composer, liked the sense of community the show fostered; he wrote a number of works about and involving community.
“Community players come and the audience sings, and the young children act in the play. Put them together and the audience is into it,” says Pietraroia.
“Britten had a real knack for making opera accessible for people who are not opera aficionados,” he concludes. “Once you hear it, something draws you to the melodies.”
Let’s Make An Opera & The Little Sweep
Until March 10
Belfry Theatre
belfry.bc.ca