Two grim tales, a dozen sublime tunes and a dash of slapstick rocked Freeze Frame Opera's school-tour show, Little Red, at Mosman Park's Alexandra Hall on Saturday.
A mashup of Mozart's Don Giovanni and a sequel to Little Red Riding Hood, written and directed by Penny Shaw with musical direction and accompaniment by Tommaso Pollio, the plot follows Riding Hood's post-traumatic refugee trail to Australia.
Soprano Charis Postmus plays the titular Little Red, engaging her young audience from the get-go with vocal and acting smarts.
Soprano Michelle Pryor is her Mum, the original Riding Hood now expecting her second child with new boyfriend Don The Woodcutter (baritone Sam Claxton), who has moved in with his dog Wolfie (bass-baritone Sholto Foss).
Happy ever after in a blended family. What could possibly go wrong?
"Why must I stay all tied up?" Wolfie — full name Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — intones with bell-like diction and pantomime timing, while Mum frets over telling Little Red about the baby.
Intergenerational trauma threatens — Little Red is the same age as her Mum in the Brothers Grimm story — but as an evidently woke Don says, many of her friends have parents who repartnered.
"Oh my gosh Mum, what a big tummy you have!" Little Red exclaims, while Don offers advice on the perils of the wider world; Mozart's serial philanderer now a wholesome step-dad.
Little Red hooks up with Wolfie to the seduction aria La ci darem la mano (There I'll give you my hand), though the lyric is commuted in FFO's parallel universe to "Why don't you just untie me?"
As in Mozart's day, breezy baritone has his way with sultry soprano; just don't tell the kids what happens in the original.
"No one is going to the dog beach!" Mum declares; Pryor voicing a powerful chorus of disapproval to the tune of a woman scorned, Ah, fuggi il traditor (Ah, flee the traitor).
Shaw's deft lyrical tweaks give plenty for kids and adults to enjoy, and Don Giovanni requires a fine line.
For example, Batti batti (Beat me, beat me), an invitation to domestic violence, gives Mum the chance to declare that she doesn't believe in slapping kids; a family-friendly message for a contemporary audience.
Likewise, a tortured recitative becomes a meditation on maternity as Mum's time draws near, while Wolfie, Red and Don are having a ball at the beach; voices blending as smoothly as the family.
When baby arrives — delivered by Wolfie in surreal disguise as the "dog-doctor" — all celebrate in the bright tones of Mozart's finale; but in this parallel world, they fete a new soul coming into the world rather than an old one going to hell.
In the after-show Q&A, young listeners want to know if there is a dingo in the story. Skirting controversy, Mum says she had been afraid of wild animals after being swallowed by a wolf way back; but since Wolfie delivered the baby, she's OK with that.
"No red flags!" Little Red quips.
"Why does the dog have big ears?" a sharp observer asks.
"All the better to hear you with," Wolfie replies.
Boom, boom!
Little Red is on tour until June 5.
