Amazing Kids! Reviews



Keepers of the Night
an original opera by composer Peter Ash
and librettist Donald Sturrock

Performed by the Los Angeles Children's Chorus
Sunday, July 15, 2007
The Alex Theatre, Glendale, California

Reviewed by Anni, age 5

Recommended for all ages



Keepers of the Night is an opera written for children and adults.  The performers are both children from the Los Angeles Children's Choir and adult opera singers.  The story is about two brothers and two sisters named Chloe, Daniel, Dominic and Emma who are camping outside in their backyard on Midsummer Night, the shortest night of the year.  Emma is the oldest child.

When they fall asleep, the Moon Selene makes magic and mischief, trying to get the attention of the Owl named Ozalid, who used to be her boyfriend. That night, the children's backyard turns into the magical forest of Arcadia and they are turned into bugs and a bat.  The Moon casts a magic spell and when the children appear at a birds' singing competition, they interrupt it and everything goes crazy.

I loved the opera and the music because it was very dramatic and exciting.  This is one of the only operas written just for children, but it is enjoyable to watch for both children and adults. There were 65 children in the opera and their singing was awesome!  The adults in the opera included one former Los Angeles Children's Choir performer, Lauren Libaw, who is now a college student at Yale University.  She did a great job in her role as Endymion, the funny assistant to Ozalid.  Her character Endymion sings a song about how she likes comedy.  I really liked her character and her singing.

The bug, animal and bird costumes were very colorful and imaginative.  My favorite bird costume was the Ovenbird's costume.  She was the bird representing the U.S.A.  It was covered in light brown feathers and she was holding a tiny American flag.  The forest set and lighting design made me feel like I was really in the forest.  It included a large old oak tree upstage center,  which the animals and bugs could hang on and enter and exit from.  It was a very important part of the story because the owl makes it the judge for the singing competition! 

The forest creatures vote for Dominic, the oldest brother, but the owl says that the oak has to judge and choose the winner instead.  In the end, no one wins, and Chloe, the youngest child, who is 9, tells everyone the truth:  they are really brothers and sisters and not part of the forest creatures.  When the morning comes, the children wake up, thinking it was all a dream; except that Chloe still has an acorn garland on her head!  

I really liked this opera and I would recommend it to kids who are 5 and up and for adults.   Some of the dark forest scenes and sounds might be too scary for younger kids.


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