Little Red’s Most Unusual Day

Description
An operatic version of the story of Little Red Riding Hood based on scenes from operas by J. Offenbach and G. Rossini.

Forest Ranger Dudley is too shy to ask Little Red’s mom, the widow Hood, to the Forest Ranger Ball. For that reason he leaves a written invitation in a basket of flowers outside Little Red’s house. Unfortunately for Dudley, the basket is delivered to Granny. Granny simply loves men, especially men in uniform. In the resulting confusion Dudley loses his pants, Granny kisses the Wolf, Mom gets impatient and Little Red gets in trouble. In fact, everyone experiences, in one way or another, a very, very unusual day.

Listen to 4 excerpts from Little Red’s Most Unusual Day

1. Dudley’s Song I am a forest ranger. Yes, I am. from G. Rossini’s: The Barber of Seville, "Largo al factotum della citta"	listen mp3
2. Little Red & Mom Duet Off you go to grandmother’s now... from J. Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, "Belle nuit, O nuit d’amour"	listen mp3
3. Granny’s Song I am a little granny in my little garden... from J. Offenbach’s: La Vie Parisienne, "Vous souvient-ill"	listen mp3
4. Little Red’s Song From now on I’ll really be good... from J. Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne, "Elles sont tristes les marquises"	listen mp3

Royalty
$35.00 per performance

Appropriate age
Pre-Kindergarten through 6th grade

Duration
40 minutes

Performers
4 or 5 singing actors and an accompanist

A note from John
When I began thinking about writing an operatic treatment of Little Red Riding Hood I knew I’d have to do something other than simply set the traditional story. The excellent American composer, Seymour Barab, had already written a charming operatic Little Red, and I had no wish to produce a lesser imitation. Barab’s opera has a cast of 3 singers: soprano, mezzo and bass. I had those voices also, plus a fourth, a tenor.

Since lovesick tenors are reliably funny, and young audiences think lovey-dovey stuff is funny anyway, I decided to weave a boyfriend/girlfriend counter-story into the traditional fairytale. Introducing Little Red’s mom as a single mother, I placed the character of Forest Ranger Dudley in the neighboring woods. Hopelessly upright and hopelessly shy, Dudley spends most of the opera trying to summon enough courage to ask Little Red’s mom to the Forest Ranger Ball. Granny thinks Dudley wants to take her to the Ball, and when the Wolf knocks on her door, wearing the forest ranger’s pilfered uniform, he ends up facing something scarier than himself: Granny, ready for her big date.

I’ve had a chance to attend productions of Little Red’s Most Unusual Day over the years and am pleased to see how well received the opera is with the teachers in attendance. One first grade teacher in Nashville, Tennessee told me she had a wonderful time at the opera because she had known a Dudley. "In fact," she added, "I married him."