A BARREL OF LAUGHS, A VALE OF TEARS

 
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a new opera

music Julia Adolphe
libretto Stephanie Fleischmann

director: Elkhanah Pulitzer
conductor: David Hanlon
dramaturg: Jessica Kubzansky
development: National Sawdust & Boston Court Theatre
 

An adaptation of Jules Feiffer’s wonderfully loopy fairytale for children of all ages about a young royal doomed to make everyone around her laugh so hard nothing gets done in her presence. How to cure her of her affliction? Why, send her on a quest, of course. A wild ride of a story involving endless transformation, a forest from which no one ever returns, a sea of malice, a a ruthless bully of a best friend, and a spunky lady in waiting, among others. All about what it is to fall in love at almost first sight, to grow wise and generous and teary-eyed—in spite of one’s self. For 6 principles and children’s chorus.

Libretto workshop: Boston Court Theatre, 2018; music workshop: National Sawdust, June 27, 2019, conducted by David Hanlon.

Recipient of an Opera America female composers discovery grant & a grant from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.
 

 
 
“If I had to choose, I wouldn’t be me.
I’d be that leaf,
I’d be that tree.”