The Daily Campus

Issue date: 11/3/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Ashley Pospisil UConn opera singers entertain children, parents and students in their unique performance of 'Little Red Riding Hood.'

UConn Opera Theater brought the well-known folk tale "Little Red Riding Hood" to life on the Jorgensen stage Sunday. The show was performed twice, at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., to an audience of excited youngsters and their parents. The one-act performance used the same beloved characters from the original story, but with a more modern, less frightening feel overall.

"Little Red Riding Hood" was greatly entertaining for the younger children who got to see a new side to the Big Bad Wolf and to Little Red's grandmother who raps. Eventually the wolf is caught by the brave lumberjack and they live happily and safely ever after. It is a wonderful way for children to see one of their favorite fairy tales come to life and to learn a few things about life. The performance gave many positive messages to the largely young audience. It stressed the importance of listening to one's parents, not talking to strangers, and doing all your homework before you play (Little Red had to read her history chapter before going outside).

The children learned lessons even if they were not aware, though for some it was just fun looking at the characters.

"He loved the show, and all the songs," Jen Olynyk said of her 3-year-old son, Will, who bashfully said his favorite was "the lumber jack guy."

The young children were not the only ones who attended the performance. There were a few UConn students there too. Even they couldn't help laughing at the quirky wolf chasing the little old Grandma around the stage.

Jessica Voloshin, a 5th-semester education major, said the show "was very clever, the wolf was really great, really funny." Indeed he was very entertaining. The music, the characters, the story all came together for an amusing show that the entire family could share.

The new operatic version of the fairy tale follows Little Red on her journey to her sick grandmother's house. Along the way she sings a merry tune with a mockingbird, picks strawberries, and enjoys the peaceful woods. There, she also encounters a wolf who we find out earlier becomes nauseated at the sound of anything sweet and is really not so horrible. Little Red learns many life lessons as a result of her exciting journey - the most important being "Mother Knows Best."

"It was very family oriented, it was kind of funny though, it was good for young kids," said Bryan Banville, a 5th-semester physiology and neurobiology major.

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