By Ryan Elmore
Goldie B. Locks and the Three Singing Bears, a children’s opera arranged by John Davies, is opening at the Miller Center for performances on Friday, Feb. 20, and Saturday, Feb. 21. The opera tells the well-known Goldie Locks fairytale set to the tune of recognizable music by Mozart, Rossini, and Offenbach.
The opera is a joint production between Berks Opera and Yocum Institute for the Arts and is part of an ongoing tradition to bring opera to Berks County children. In addition to public performances this weekend, Reading area school children were bused to morning performances throughout the week.
“We’re creating new audiences and getting children invested in great music,” said Tamara Black, Berks Opera’s artistic director. “A big part of Berks Opera’s mission is education.”
Black, who founded Berks Opera with her mother in 2008, says that implementing more children’s programming has been largely successful, both financially and as a way of attracting broader audiences. In November, Berks Opera collaborated with Albright College to bring a children’s reimagining of Mozart’s The Magic Flute to Berks County audiences. Last year, in another joint production with Yocum, they performed another operatic spin on a classic fairy tale with Little Red’s Most Unusual Day.
This year, much of the Little Red creative team has returned for Goldie. The opera stars Maya Burdick, Connor McLaughin, Myleigh Snyder, and Orin Strunk, directed by Joel Gori, with music direction by Black. “I appreciate that Joel and Tammy refuse to underestimate the young audiences,” said Burdick, who plays Goldie. “Opera is such a beautiful art form … it’s so important to show to children and develop their appreciation and enthusiasm.”
Schoolchildren, in turn, have met the show positively. Throughout daytime performances, the lively audiences laugh at many of the jokes, particularly those involving physical comedy, as well as shout out in response to the performers. At one point in the show, the bears appear behind Goldie, which prompted one young audience to say, “Watch out!” in unison.
Black loves the enthusiasm the audiences have displayed so far. “If it didn’t engineer some type of emotion, we wouldn’t be doing our job.”
Goldie B. Locks and the Three Singing Bears opens to the public on Friday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m., at the Miller Center for the Arts. Two more performances will be held the following day, Saturday, Feb. 21, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
