Arts & Entertainment
Three Little Pigs Went to The Opera
This event takes place at Landmark on Main Street
On Sunday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m. the Jeanne Rimsky Theatre at will present the soldout performance of “The Three Little Pigs.” The show’s producer Yoko Stetson of The Big Idea Group promises to blow the theater house down.
Composer and musical arranger John Davis adapts the fable to mesh with four of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s classic operas and teaches some valuable lessons.
Opera buffs will appreciate the weaving of Mozart’s famous operas, much like how Baz Lurhmann’s film, “Moulin Rouge” weaves the story of Guiseppi Verdi’s “La Traviata” with modern music, The Pigs is set to scenes and music from “Don Giovanni,” “Le nozze di Figaro” (The Marriage of Figaro), “Cosi Fan Tutte” (Women are Like That) and the “Die Zauberflöte” (Magic Flute).
In this clever adaptation, our three little pigs have graduated elementary school and were kicked off their mother’s farm to go off and build their own houses. The siblings, Despina (a character from Cosí fan tutte), Cheribuno (from The Marriage of Figaro), and Don Giovanni (title character of Don Giovanni), differ on how to build their respective houses.
The two boy pig brothers claim they know how and well, do a terrible rush construction job, while Despina, the middle pig sister, is an avid reader and decides to research how to build her house by going to the library. While Despina is in the library, her brothers Cheribuno and Don Giovanni engage in some mischief outside the library with (spoiler alert!) a sordid looking statue, which as we know from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, is not a statue at all, but Wolfgang (named after Mozart), the big bad hungry wolf who follows them home.
This version of “Three Little Pigs” first played in 1991 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death and continues to delight young audiences.
Stetson was raised in a home with a deep appreciation for opera and classical music and is thrilled to bring “The Three Little Pigs” to her husband’s hometown of Port Washington. Stetson is passionate about exposing children to opera and sharing this new twist of the classic childhood fairytale.
If your child loves pigs and frequents the Landmark’s playground or the Parent Resource Center, the Landmark provides the perfect opportunity to discover a new aspect of the facilities and a reprieve from the cold. It also provides the chance to find out if your child will appreciate opera music, as thankfully the tickets are not too costly ($18, nonmembers; $15, Friends of Landmark).
