By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Photos Courtesy of Photographer Pin Lim
Coming in late to see “The Little Prince” at Opera in the Heights, I wandered into the middle of a young lad’s dream. The opera was unfolding in somewhat of a nonsensical manner, which would be typical of a dream at any age in the human lifespan.
There was a young lad, portrayed by Daniel Karash, costumed in regal clothing, who played the role of the prince. Also on stage was an adult, Scott Clark, who portrayed a pilot frustrated with the wreckage of his own single-engine airplane.
Karash’s performance was immediately engaging. His voice was that of a child’s as he sang out each line. When his role required that his character be demanding, in a childlike way, of each of the adults who appear in his dream, his singing voice carried the necessary insistence.
The more I watched and listened the more I was amazed by the young performer’s talent.
Clark was also captivating as he sang the role of the pilot. His character attempts to retain his dignity amid his misfortune and yet provide some helpful advice and assistance to the child. He, along with all the performers, delivered engaging musical voices that fit the size of the historic theater, which seated, at most, about 300 people.
In the opera, the dreaming child has landed somewhere far away from his home, and as he meets each character, some represent his homeland and others are new friends for him, whom he engages in conversation to satisfy his inquisitive nature.
On a journey through a desert and back to a forested land, the opera explores the fantasies and the confusion of a child who is searching for answers about life in general and hoping to find his way back home.
As each scene unfolds, a new character whom the child questions appears in his dream. One such character is the lamplighter played by Eric Botto. The child asks why the lamplighter lights the lamp and why he dims the lamp. This conversation is simple, is sung and was enjoyable to behold.
The characters who enter the child’s dream are fun, witty and pleasant. The dialogue is always very brief and simple. The words of the opera are displayed on both sides of the stage, making it easy to follow along should the operatic singing sometimes not be easily understood. For the most part, I was able to understand what the characters sung without looking at the displayed script.
A nonsensical, cheerful, and somewhat scatter-brained character wearing a top hat, portrayed by Amaan Atkins, enters the stage and exchanges words with the young lad.
At the performance I attended, when he leapt from his position on a hill down to the floor of the stage, the crowd responded with ooos, wow and applause. Atkins’ ballet skills added dimension to the musical performance.
Melaine Ashkar portrays a fun and tricky fox. The fox tries to beguile the young prince into taming the wild animal so that, as the fox explains, the prince will grow fond of the fox. However, the young prince, in a pleasant way, does not accept the offer, and the wild animal that might have harmed the child instead assists the child.
The same performer who had portrayed the scatter-brained character appears in another scene as a wise snake, whom the child questions as he does every character. It seemed maybe the snake might be harmful, but like all the other characters in the dream, the snake is available to help the child find his way.
Along with the adults’ roles, there were younger performers who were part of the production singing in the chorus. These children were costumed in various ways to portray portions of the child’s dream.
The live orchestra, which included a harpist, added to the professional performance and added to the nonsensicalness of the plot by accompanying the child’s dream in an entrancing manner.
The orchestral accompaniment also included a percussionist ticking out the sounds of an adding machine on his musical instruments in a scene featuring an accountant, played by Wesley Landry, who is also questioned by the child.
Opera at the Heights provided through “The Little Prince” a delightful evening of sharing in musical talent through a lighthearted experience of traveling into a child’s dream. There was plenty of glitter and sparkle in the costuming, and there were glowing stars and other childlike set design elements to keep children and adult eyes drawn to the stage.
“The Little Prince” the opera is based on an award-winning international children’s novella, “La Petit Prince” written and illustrated by French writer and military pilot, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The book has been translated into 600 languages and has sold over 140 million copies.
Nicholas Wright transformed the written words into an opera and the magical score was composed by Academy Award winning composer Rachel Portman, who also composed original scores for “Emma,” “The Cider House Rules,” and “Chocolat.”
More information about the opera and ticket purchases can be found at: https://www.operaintheheights.org/2024-2025-the-little-prince.
