Calgary Opera is set to stage one of the most accessible and relatable modern opera stories this holiday season, with their latest production of Little Red Riding Hood.
The original work that was written and composed in the 1960s by Seymour Barab, who was best known for his fairy tale operas, the take on the fable has been updated by Stage Director Mieko Ouchi in her Calgary Opera debut, to be a modern telling of the classic story.
“I’ve added some very short little bookending scenes at the beginning and the end that really set the play in the present day, with a family that have moved into a new home and who are unpacking in the midst of just getting settled. A little girl goes to sleep in her mostly unpacked bedroom, and a story emerges from the boxes in her room,” said Ouchi.
She said that addition complements the largely traditional take that Barab took on the Little Red Riding Hood story.
“There are some wonderful magical moments when she goes on that walk through the forest to get to her grandmother’s house, where she encounters all sorts of singing strawberries and, you know, rabbits and little animals and flowers. There’s this kind of magical path that she takes and both musically and visually, which is really fun, and so I kind of really played off of that idea” said Ouchi.
Finding a place between the scary and the familiar was important said Ouchi, given how children relate to those sorts of stories. According to research done by the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark, the scary is both sought out and also an important part of childhood development.
“They kind of love the little notion of that kind of scare, but they don’t want to be too scared. But there is something about the danger of the stories that’s really exciting. I think I kind of related it to that, that moment of like moving into a new house, where you’re excited to be in this new place, but also everything is strange and not the same as your old house,” said Ouchi.
She said having the story set in an almost dreamlike state for the protagonist meant that dangerous adventure through the woods with the big bad wolf made it a parallel to the experiences that many families have, including newcomers to Calgary.
Staging Little Red Riding Hood at the Mamdani Opera Centre in the Beltline will allow audience members to get a lot closer to the performance than they would at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Ouchi said. There will even be tiny opportunities to participate in the show.
“Especially for young audiences, proximity is so important. Being able to feel like you’re part of the story, and being able to almost reach out and touch the actors—even though you’re not supposed to do that, but you feel like you could—you can really see their expressions, and really hear them up close and personal,” she said.
The quality audiences expect from Calgary Opera, in a family friendly format
What won’t be changing is the sumptuous sets and costumes that Calgary Opera is known for. Ouchi said that they had an incredible team of designers in Scott Reid and Heather Moore.
“I think it’s going to be quite magical to see this world come alive and that space, it’s so beautiful to see it transformed. I think that’s part of the magic of the holidays,” she said.
Working with the McPhee Artist Development Program performers Kelsey Ronn and Katelyn Bird as Little Red Riding Hood, Alessia Vitali and Maria Milenic as Grandma, and George Theodorakopoulos and Luke Noftall as the Wolf and Huntsman was something Ouchi said she had been looking forward to.
“I work a lot with emerging artists, and I always find that they bring so much energy and passion into the room. I think that energy is very infectious, especially for young audiences. They are so attuned to performers’ energy,” she said.
She said sharing that passion was important for not only getting kids excited about Little Red Riding Hood, but also to get them excited in the arts in general.
“I think that early exposure to the arts, and especially to opera, is so important to just plant that seed of how exciting it can be, the beauty of when the acting and the music and the singing all come together, it’s so magical,” said Ouchi.
“To have that opportunity to be exposed to it at an early age through an opera that’s written in English and very accessible. I think it’s just a great opportunity to plant the seed for some opera lovers or opera performers in the future.”
Little Red Riding Hood plays at the Mamdani Opera Centre from Nov. 28 to Dec. 7, with a sensory-friendly performance on Dec. 6.
For more details, or tickets, see www.calgaryopera.com/little-red-riding-hood.
