Firework Maker's Daughter - Opera at the Royal Opera House

A while back one of my friends was asking about books with quality child heroins that she could read with her daughter, the one that came to mind was Philip Pullman's The Firework Maker's Daughter.  This was one of his earlier books before His Dark Materials and when he was an out and out children's writer.  It follows the adventures of Lila who's dream to follow in her father's footsteps to be a real firework maker is blocked because she is a girl; along the way she meets a lovesick elephant, some incompetent pirates and a terrifying fire fiend.

There is a tried and tested formula for making children's films and plays (I'm sure it was pioneered by Victorian pantomime) of ensuring that sufficient jokes are provided to keep parent's entertained while sufficient slapstick is provided to keep the kids happy.  This did not follow the same pattern at all, and to its strength.

From the opening projection "Do this at home... But don't tell dad."  Nearly all the moments of humour were set at a level that I could easily enjoy with my children and the only real piece of slapstick that comes to mind was when the hapless Rambashi revealed he was a pirate "give us all your money!" he demanded; Lila responds "But I've given you all your money [as payment for crossing the river]".  "Well," responds Rambashi "you know what we'll do with your money, throw it in the river!"  Well I laughed, and so did my children.

Musically I found it very accessible; much of it was based around an oriental sounding pentatonic scale.  There were moments of referencing the operatic heritage; the lovesick elephant's aria and firework displays from German and Italian firework makers with faux Wagner and Italian opera respectively.  But one of the most magical moments was the use of onstage puppets used to project parts of the story onto screens.