Fairy ales & Fables – the Short Story

Once Upon a Mattress (solo) – How do you know that someone is TRULY a princess? In this story, when the princess shows up, she doesn’t look particularly elegant, and in this adaptation of The Princess & the Pea, she doesn’t behave the way you might expect a princess to act either. So the queen tests her by piling up many, many mattresses and secretly placing a single pea under the bottom mattress. If the girl can feel the tiny pea, she will prove that she is a genuine princess.

The Ugly Duckling - When a mother duck finds an extra-large egg in her nest, which hatches into an extra-large brown duckling, the whole farm-yard teases him and chases him away as an “ugly duckling.” He travels far and has many adventures trying to find his place in the world until a year later, when he finds a pond of swans who invite him to join them. He is ashamed to join such lovely birds until he sees his reflection and realizes that he is a very fine swan indeed!

La belle au bois dormant (solo) – In this rendition of Sleeping Beauty, instead of the usual curse of pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, Princess Aurora’s hundred-year sleep is induced by the kiss of an “errant knight.” A good fairy alters the curse so that she and the whole castle will wake once she is kissed by the noble prince who sees her in a dream. This aria takes place just before Aurora’s enchanted sleep occurs.

The Goose & the Golden Egg – This is a cautionary tale about a farmer whose goose laid one gold egg daily. The farmer began selling the eggs at market, but he grew impatient and thought he could gain riches faster by opening the goose and removing all of the eggs at once. Upon killing the goose, he found nothing, and lost everything. “I Want it Now” is sung by the greedy, spoiled and bratty Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Vilia (solo) – The story of the Vilia, a wood nymph, and her struggles to find love is presented at a party in Franz Lehar’s operetta, The Merry Widow. In Czech folklore, “víly” are woodland spirits, typically portrayed as beautiful women with long flowing hair, who primarily live in the woods and entrance men who wander into their land, through their looks and beautiful voices.

Wish Medley: Pinocchio/Snow White/Cinderella –

When the wood carver, Geppetto, makes a wish upon a star to have a son, the puppet Pinocchio comes to life and has many adventures as he learns how to be good and become a real boy. Snow White wishes for true love to find her, but before that can happen, she has to flee the machinations of her evil stepmother and get some help from seven dwarves. Cinderella makes a wish in her heart to find love and happiness. With the help of some transformative magic from her fairy god-mother, her wish comes true.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin - The town of Hamelin is overrun with rats and mice! A piper dressed in colorful patchwork (“pied”) clothing appears and claims he can lure the rats away. The burgomaster (mayor) of the town hires the piper, and he succeeds in ridding the town of its infestation!

Rusalka (solo) - In this variation of The Little Mermaid, Rusalka is a water nymph instead of a Mermaid. Her love for a human prince leads her to make an ill-fated deal with the witch Ježibaba, to gain a human soul for the chance to win the love of this prince.

Continued on p. 13