Opera on the Go

As part of their Opera on the Go program, Opera Theatre of St. Louis visited OLS to introduce students to several aspects of an opera performance.  Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students participated in several workshops with the OTSL members.  During the workshops, students learned how opera composers use music to portray various character traits and emotions, discovered the importance of movement as a means of storytelling, and saw how makeup can transform an actor into a character.

These students learn the intricacies of stage makeup.

The finished product.

While opera is often assumed to be serious and dramatic, the Opera Theatre of St. Louis presenters showed that opera can be funny, too.  They staged an excerpt from The Pirates of Penzance, a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan.  The opera was a hit among the students!  The whole school attended the performance, and they especially enjoyed watching the upbeat song "Modern Major-General", a speedy tongue-twister that elicited uproarious laughs from the crowd.

On the move: the students participate in a movement workshop.