No, the title doesn’t refer to my upcoming performance in drag as the Mother in Class Act Studio‘s production of La Fille Mal Gardée, which is their annual ballet recital this year. (What, I haven’t mentioned that upcoming performance? Well, now I have: June 27, June 28, Riddell Centre, 7 p.m. Don’t miss it. I’ll be a sight to see, and the dancers will be wonderful.)
Queen for a Day is the children’s operetta I’ve been directing for the Regina Conservatory of Performing Arts‘s “Operatunities” program. It’s a somewhat fractured version of the Sheherezade story, set in a fictional “ancient Balkan kingdom” called Volcania, where the new king has decreed that, since he’s required by law to take a wife, he will marry a new queen every day and then kill her the next morning. Sheherezade gets around this by telling him a long-drawn-out story that he can’t bear to not hear the end of.
It’s been a lot of fun working with this cast of talented kids, ranging from eight to 16 in age, and our first performance this morning, for an audience of students from three schools, went very well. The kids enjoyed themselves and the audience enjoyed themselves, too–and had lots of great questions in the Q&A which followed.
We have a public performance at Darke Hall tomorrow, Saturday, June 9, at 7 p.m. If you’re in Regina and you can spare an hour–the show’s only 45 minutes long–come by and support the kids. The show is colorful and funny and has great music. You won’t be sorry!
