Wrenshall opera is a wonderment

How do you get 150 elementary children to hear and watch an opera? You treat them to a production by Little Opera of the North. It helps to have a scary tale with a happy ending, like "Hansel and Gretel." That was the fare on Oct. 9 at Wrenshall School. Music teacher Debbie Fenlason clapped her hands, the room became quiet, and baritone Rob Reardon stepped forward to greet the crowd and start the story: Two children get lost in the forest and encounter a witch who wants to turn them into gingerbread cookies.

For the next hour, four singers and a pianist, using all the elements of stagecraft - story, song, mime, dance, sets, costume and props - held the young students' attention as the 19th-century tale, written by the Grimm Brothers and retold by Adelheid Wette, unfurled and the music composed by Wette's brother, Engelbert Humperdinck, filled the school with song.

In the story, the children become lost and fall asleep in the woods. They are visited by a chorus of angelic spirits, which is where 16 Wrenshall students took to the stage with their airy voices and dance movements.

Combining realism and fantasy, the story is ageless: faced with challenges, the parents squabble, and the two children find solace in each other's company while foiling the witch's bad intentions.

Many hands went up after the performance. "Where will your next performances be?" [Duluth and Superior] "What are your names?" [Rob Reardon, Anna Donnelly, Kaisi Herrmann, Angela Born, with pianist Carson Rose Schneider] "What is the gingerbread witch made of?" [Foam] "How did you know how to do everything?" [We have a director, and we practice a lot.]

The production was versatile and nimble. The five performers travel with a portable set, props, and costumes - all of which can fit into a van. A school needs to provide a keyboard, space, and an audience.

When asked what opera brings to her program, Fenlason said it gives youngsters a music experience that is different - enthralling some in the audience with its drama, and opening up the possibility of working in a musical theater production in the future.

Little Opera of the North is a production of Lyric Opera of the North, the Duluth company that has been an arts leader for almost two decades.

In an interview following the performance, Calland Metts, co-director of the opera company, said the program is popular in schools throughout northeast Minnesota. This season, "Hansel and Gretel" has been booked for 20 venues and is aiming for a total of 50. There is enough demand to have two traveling companies.