The adult singers rehearse in the afternoon. The children rehearse after school. “And then in the evening rehearsal we plug them in,” says Opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura explaining how they are getting ready for their production of The Little Prince.
Based on the iconic novella Le Petit Prince written in the wake of World War II by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the new production of Academy Award winning composer Rachel Portman with libretto by Nicholas Wright, The Little Prince tells the story of a young boy who travels to different planets, learning about life from the characters he meets. When he comes to Earth he becomes friends with a stranded pilot, telling him he wants to be reunited with the rose he loves on his home planet.
The production is directed by Josh Shaw (Madame Butterfly in Japanese and English) and conducted by opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura. The production has 12 principal singers, 12 children’s chorus members and 14 instrumentalists in the orchestra.
In December 2019, Opera in the Heights presented Amahl and the Night Visitors. “One of our takeaways from having done Amahl previously was that we were able to attract quite a few families who were experiencing opera for the first time and we took that opportunity to do four matinee performances., Isomura says.
“And we had a great response from our public saying ‘Thank you for offering events we can bring our kids to.’ I was thinking of doing Amahl again.” He discussed it with his board, as well as other opera professionals. “Little Prince comes up very quickly in that discussion.”
“It was a piece that was reborn in Houston and developed there [by Houston Grand Opera in 2003] and has since taken off in other places, but I hadn’t experienced it first hand. I heard a lot of people talk about it with great affection.” He spoke with a number of people who had firsthand experience producing it.
“Turns out, it has a similar energy and a dynamic to Amahl. You have this boy soprano who has these episodes of interacting with strange adults. And learning a thing or two or teaching a thing or two. Very moving things happen.
“I quickly became very enamored with it and the music has a lot to do with that. The music is so pleasing to the ear and transporting.
“We have 11 kids in the children’s chorus. We have two boys sharing the role of The Prince. They’ll each do two of the four performances,” Isomura says. “Kids, their brains are like sponges. I have no doubt they’re going to absorb the information quickly.”
Isomura says the main challenge in presenting this at Lambert Hall was how to show the Little Prince traveling through space from planet to planet when the venue has no fly space or wing space and a very small stage. He terms it: “a fascinating artistic challenge.” They do have a plane on stage. The pilot is the avatar for the book’s author, Saint-Exupéry, who was a pilot himself, Isomura says.
Opera in the Heights, like most of the arts venues in Houston, was hit hard by the pandemic when most live performances ceased for a while. Seeking to return to its previous performance levels, it has appealed to its subscribers, donors and other audience members to help it raise funds this year to better enable it to present operas like The Little Prince.
“This is the first time since 2020 that we’re presenting a season with four fully staged productions which had always been our practice before the shutdown. While that is a sign of growth for us, it’s also this acknowledgment that we have asked our patrons to stay us during this period of regrowth. And we enjoy the most loyal support we could ask for.” Isomura says.
“There came a time when we felt like we can’t just wait for our support to grow to a certain level to reestablish our performance practice. This is us saying we’re going to grow our programming and we’re going to ask our supporters to grow with us. So it’s a bit of a leap of faith.”
As for The Little Prince, Isomura calls the ending “a curious thing for sure. It ends with the demise of the Little Prince. There seems to be a very profound lesson about life and death. When asked if we can expect it to appeal to children, the answer is absolutely because of the very colorful and strange experiences that the Prince and the Pilot have telling these stories, meeting various characters.
“I think that lessons that are delivered throughout the story hit the parents really hard in the gut. For me it’s my favorite kind of art form,” he says, “The opera definitely is built to do the same thing through this gorgeous music and a really clever libretto.”
“I want opera devotees to also think of this as one of the new classics. We all have our favorite 18th, 19th, 20th century classics and I think the opera field today is showing up that The Little Prince is a 21st Century classic.”
Performances are scheduled for December 6 through 15 at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sundays and 7:30 p.m. Friday at Lambert Hall, 1703 Heights Boulevard. Sung in English with English surtitles For more information, call 713-861-5303 or visit operaintheheights.org. $35-$85.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
