SITTING in the balcony of a theatre and watching an audience below enthralled by what’s going on on stage must be quite a moment for a composer.

For Jonathan Dove, that moment came at the Old Vic Theatre when he sat in on a performance of The Enchanted Pig for which he has written the music.

“It was a whole schools’ audience in a morning,” he said.

“I sat and looked down on this sea of eight to 12 year olds. It is a diagram of the human attention span.”

“It is a bit like looking down on sea anemones with their heads turning this way and that. It is very instructive. They don’t hide what they think.”

They and many others clearly think that Jonathan’s music, coupled with the words of Alasdair Middleton, make for a wow of a show.

You can see for yourself when this extraordinary piece of musical theatre arrives at the Lawrence Batley Theatre next week. It will play two performances (2pm and 7.30pm) on April 7, the only date that The Opera Group, the company staging it, is scheduled to do in Yorkshire.

“Three years ago, the Young Vic took the very bold step of commissioning us to write an opera for their annual Christmas show,” said Jonathan.

“We didn’t actually call it an opera, because we didn’t want to put people off, but the musical tale we wrote is a through-composed entertainment for four opera singers and four singing actors.”

“Children love stories. Most enjoy singing, too: you could say that opera is a natural medium for them.

“But, of course, hardly any operas are actually aimed at them – some of them defeat quite a few adults, let alone children.

“Yet boys and girls brought up on The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast have no problem with singing princesses.

“It is only a step further on to where the performers are singing all the way through. And opera thrives on fairy tales.”

As for a suitable storyline, Jonathan and Alasdair delved into that fairytale world but felt some were simply too Grimm.

“The first story we thought of was a Grimm fairytale, Donkeyskin, which we’d often talked about as a potential opera plot,” said Jonathan.

But since the storyline includes the king wanting to marry his daughter they decided that was a non-starter and turned instead to the tale of The Enchanted Pig.

“Admittedly, that does involve a girl marrying a pig, but the pig turns into a prince at night, so that’s all right – until she accidentally plays into the hands of the witch who enchanted him, loses her husband, and has to travel to the Milky Way to find him again,” said Jonathan.

“The story is based on a Romanian folk tale which in itself is intriguing.

“It starts with a marriage which is what’s unique about it. In most fairy tales, by the end of the story, the prince and princess marry and live happily ever after whereas in this story, a wedding is only the beginning.”

And the story, as all good morality tales do, suggests something of a message.

“We find out that if our heroine had been a little more patient things would have worked out fine,” said Jonathan. “As it is, she ends up having to go to the ends of the world to get her husband back.”

Critics and audiences agree that what Jonathan, Alasdair and The Opera Group have created is a gritty, modern musical fairy tale sure to appeal to the whole family.

Jonathan’s playful score brings the moon, the stars and the Milky Way to vivid musical life while Alasdair’s witty lyrics will amuse children and adults alike.

“I feel that we’ve written a piece that will appeal to all ages. It has so many different elements of storytelling and song,” said Jonathan.

Audiences agree. The show has had highly successful runs at London’s Royal Opera House and the New Victory Theatre in New York and now looks set to be the must see treat for families in Huddersfield this Easter.

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