Kids Concert: Schoolyard Carmen. Toronto Summer Music Festival. Walter Hall. July 26.
This year the Toronto Summer Music Festival has added a weekly free kids concert aimed at introducing children ages 5 to 12 to classical music. As I strolled along Philosopher’s Walk this morning on my way to see Schoolyard Carmen by Shoestring Opera I asked myself how they would make the story of a skilled seductress “age-appropriate.” It brought to mind my father’s circumspect explanation to me, as we were on our way to see the musical Gigi, of what a courtesan is. He also provided the definition of a Taxi Dancer, to clarify my understanding of the great Rodgers and Hart 1930 show tune, “Ten Cents a Dance,” about a woman who rents herself out as a dance partner. This was back in the day when sexual content was discretely concealed and seldom leaked into kids’ consciousness except by accident or by means of “sexual research,” as Freud called children’s curiosity about intimate activity. This morning I wondered how much this audience of kids would have already learned given our widespread broadcasting of sexual messages.
As it turned out, Shoestring Opera were true to the spirit of the story without retaining many of the adult details. Carmen (Gillian Grossman) is a new kid, a recently-arrived immigrant doing her feisty best to cope with schoolyard dynamics including a power struggle with the reigning cool kid, Tory Adair (Janaka Welihinda). Sparks fly, arias are sung, and some of the qualities of the original characters are charmingly captured in Carmen’s feistiness and Tory’s hilarious vanity. The audience is frequently invited to clap along, and the story ends positively without being cloying. Carmen survives her first day of school, temporary incarceration in the school office, and manages reconciliation with Tory.
Pianist Jiayin Liu and cellist Anne Rankin kept the score moving at a lively pace, while also singing or speaking the occasional line. Janaka Welihinda plays three separate roles, using delightful physical humour to embody the moonwalking Tory Adair, the near-sighted plant-watering vice principal, and the hyper-Canadian custodian Uncle who guides Carmen through the back-to-school rituals.
As impressive as Shoestring Opera’s adaptation and performance was, the very full audience of kids, parents and grandparents was equally impressive. The children were attentive, a responsible adult promptly accompanied any child who couldn’t manage from the auditorium, and at the end, the kids asked thoughtful and respectful questions, including my favourite: “how much did you have to practice?”
Kudos should go to Jonathan Crow for recognising the opportunity to bring classical music to the clusters of kids who attend summer programs around the Edward Johnson Building, and for offering a truly kid-friendly experience of a calibre that the grownups could also enjoy. The program concludes next Wednesday with Kids Concert: Celebrating Canada.
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