De Nationale Opera presenteert
Youth opera for ages 6 and up
What do you do when you are different from everybody else? Try not to stand out? Or ignore what others think?
The boy who grew too fast is an opera for children ages 6 and up about belonging and being yourself. The performance is sung and acted by adult singers and a children’s chorus.
Poponel doesn’t fit in with his classmates. He is growing so fast that all the other children tease him for being too tall. But he finds a solution: a professor who has a machine that can make Poponel small again. There’s only one condition. From now on, Poponel has to behave just like all the other children. Will Poponel be able to fit in with everybody else? Or is he destined to be different?
The composer
Gian Carlo Menotti (1911-2007) wrote his first opera at the age of 11. He is best known for his Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors, made for American TV and so enthusiastically received that it was broadcast for many years. Menotti continued to compose up to an advanced age, including for young audiences. He wrote The boy who grew too fast for OperaDelaware in 1982.
Music and libretto
Gian Carlo Menotti