(mellow synth music) - [Narrator] This week on "Expressions," we go behind the scenes at Binghamton University's music department to find out what it takes to perform a children's opera, that is, an opera performed for children.

♪ Relief ♪ - [David] Good Morning, welcome to Binghamton University in the Anderson Center.

My name's David Toulson, I'm the director for the opera you're going to see here today.

We welcome you.

- [Audience] Yeah.

- [David] Yeah, all right!

(audience cheering) Wonderful.

Now I have a question for you.

Has anyone here seen an opera before?

- [Audience] No!

- [David] We have some people saying yes, some people saying no.

You know, I've always... Way back, I mean, this would be, I guess, 2000, 2001, I traveled with a touring children's opera company and learned that from the person that hired me.

She would go and do these introductions.

I'm like, oh, that's gold.

And I've used it ever since.

(David laughing) You know, I often get asked, what is an opera.

And actually, that's a really easy question to answer.

And it is a story told with singing.

An opera is just a story told with singing.

And the story we're telling today is the story of Hansel and Gretel.

(audience chattering) - I hear it.

- We audition very early in the semester, about three weeks to a month into the semester.

We wait about that long so the voice teachers can get to know the new students, and get to know their voices, and can help the students select which roles they want to audition for.

We have a couple of selections that are pre-chosen from the operas.

So, if you're auditioning for, say, "Hansel and Gretel," you'll get a page or two of music from the opera that we're gonna ask you to sing.

And then there's also the opportunity to sing a song of your choice that might show your qualities, you know, the qualities of your voice a little bit better.

We give 'em each about seven minutes.

And then we have to just find the best fit for them.

And sometimes it's easy choices, sometimes it's really difficult because we have a lot of people that are really good, and we have to choose the best among a lot of great singers, which is actually a hard decision to make.

(Juan singing) - We do auditions for all of our shows at the same time.

And so I was auditioning for a lot of roles, but I really was interested in Gretel.

So I sang "Gretel's Aria," but I also sang like "Sandman" and "Dew Fairy," and a few other pieces from the other operas that we're doing in the spring.

And so I just got out there and the adrenaline took hold and I just sang.

- For me, auditions are always a little nerve-wracking, but I think they're also something I really look forward to, especially at Binghamton, because we get to sing in Osterhout Theater.

When you get up there and you sing, the sound just kind of like hits you back.

It's such a great experience.

(Hansel and Gretel singing) - I wasn't really interested in auditioning for the Witch because it's a role that is always portrayed by a female voice.

But after the auditions, my professor suggested, "You know, Juan, sometimes this role gets portrayed by a tenor, you know, and it makes it very interesting because it gives certain nuances to the role that could be interesting for you to explore."

Now that I'm rehearsing and that I'm getting into this character, I think this was such a good idea.

I mean, it's so fun, it's so physical.

It's terrifying at certain moments, but throughout the opera, I think it's very funny.

(energetic piano music) (broom clatters) (students applauding) (mellow piano music) (audience chattering) - A stage director is basically in charge of everything you see in an opera.

You know, in charge of the movement on stage, so when you see the singers moving about the stage, it's my job to coordinate them and to give them intention to their movement.

You know, a lot of times we joke about actors saying what's my motivation.

It's my job to help them with their motivation, so that they know when they're entering the scene, this is what they're thinking, this is what they're feeling, this is what they've experienced before they entered.

So they can enter in character, and hopefully, have nice full rounded-out characters.

(Abigail singing) Going.

Abby, you need to not do this.

(Abigail singing) Take the straw back.

(mellow piano music) (Abigail singing) - We're doing what?

(crew laughing) - I'm gonna be you for a second.

- Okay, thank you for being me.

♪ Have to go hungry ♪ (students laughing) So yeah, actually, when you pull, you (indistinct).

♪ Then we'll have to go hungry ♪ (mellow piano music) Follow through.

- [David] There you go, that's it.

- I'm gonna get right here, so maybe I'll- - [David] Well, hold it lower then.

- Mm-hmm.

- There you go.

- All right.

- All right.

♪ Then we'll have to go hungry.

♪ - [David] There you go!

Oh, my God (indistinct).

- Okay, okay.

- All right, (laughing), same again.

- All right.

(Abigail singing) - Gretel going to Hansel.

♪ I'll go back to ♪ - Everything about Dave is motivate your character, motivate your character, motivate your character.

And I think, you know, any director does his best work when you have an actor that comes into the studio and is ready with a head full of ideas, just to do, you know, experiment.

Dave works really well with that.

- Everyone's trying to learn.

And oftentimes, we'll have a rehearsal and we'll run it once with one pair, once with another pair, once with another pair.

And the patience that he has with us is incredible.

- Mm-hmm.

♪ Hurrah ♪ - That's fine- (people crosstalking) The rehearsal process itself is where I'm a participant in the process.

If I've done my job right, when we get to a performance, I just get to step back and let them take the reins of the show and it becomes theirs.

I like to make sure that I have an idea for every moment in the show, so that when I'm working with younger singers that might not be able to create on their own, I can give them a structure to work with.

When I'm working with the older singers that have a little bit more experience, while I have those ideas, I try to maybe keep a few of them in reserve to allow just a little bit of room for growth, or for their own expressions to come out.

Sometimes we end up with absolutely wonderful things that weren't part of my original plan.

Because it's generated from inside the singers, they take those ideas more personally and I think it just increases the quality of the overall product.

(students singing) ♪ Tra-la-la, tra-la-la ♪ - One of the things that we mess up the most, and that's the grapevine.

(Abigail and Daisy laughing) 'Cause we do a grapevine and we're dancing together.

- The grapevine is like- - Yes.

- Step, step front.

- Step front, step back.

- Step, step back.

(students singing) - And then we start singing tra-la-la, tra-la-la, and we just go crazy and do splits and somersaults, and it's so fun.

♪ Tra-la-la, la, la ♪ - All right, (indistinct).

That's a shake.

- Okay, okay.

- All right, that's a shake, let's take five.

(mellow piano music) ♪ Tra-la-La, tra-la-la, tra-la-la, hip-hurrah ♪ (student singing) (mellow piano music) - We will double or triple cast most of the roles in our operas.

And that is to give as many students, from undergraduate through the graduate level, an opportunity to perform, because with this art form, there is something that you learn by the actual being on stage and performing that you cannot learn in the studio.

You can't learn at your lesson, you can't learn when you're practicing on your own.

That adrenaline heat of the moment.

And we give these students those opportunities as often as possible.

♪ Little goose ♪ Sorry.

(mellow piano music) - That's okay, yeah.

- Goosey gander.

- Goosey, goosey gander.

♪ Goosey, goosey gander ♪ - It makes it very difficult for the stage director to have three casts, and often, one will be rehearsing while the others are standing behind and shadowing.

It makes more work in some ways, but it's a wonderful opportunity.

(students singing) - Abby, cheek, cheek, cheek.

(students singing) It's really nice to have someone of the same voice part who has more experience and kind of learn from them and kind of learn from each other too.

Especially 'cause most of the roles that we do is kind of like me and him are double-casted for those roles.

So it's nice to learn it together.

Like, before rehearsal, we'll go over the lines.

And it's nice to see like, how, the methods that he practices in, because he's had five and a half years of practicing this kind of music.

- I like switching back and forth with different Hansels, different Witches, different people.

When I'm playing Gretel, I can't play her the same every single time I'm on stage.

Because if I'm with Abby, Gretel's a certain way, but if I performed with another Hansel, then Gretel is a little bit different.

And she does things a little bit differently.

♪ Comes, you sleep ♪ (mellow piano music) - [Students] Encore, encore, encore!

- The students go into the schools to introduce the opera, and the idea of opera to the students.

And they try and do it in an interactive and fun way.

Sometimes it's getting the kids up and singing something, or pretending to be one of the characters.

Just get them invested and involved in the show so they have some idea of what they're coming into when they get there.

- I think it's really important that we're helping to educate a future audience that that is aware of opera, and also for the students, for them to have that experience of going into a rural setting where there might be students that have never been to an opera, and so they're gonna have that experience brought right to their building.

They're gonna meet the students and then they're gonna come to the university and see the performance.

(student singing) - In my undergrad, we had mostly music education majors.

And so my friends would be telling me about, "Oh, we've gotta go down to the preschool to perform and teach these kids."

And oh, all thinking to myself is, "Oh my gosh, how are you gonna hold their attention for this long?"

- Yeah, maybe teach them some dances.

- We wanted to teach them some of Hansel and Gretel's dances, (Daisy laughing) 'cause we have a lot of movement in the show.

- Yeah.

- A lot of different, like, swaying and maybe with the broom.

- [Abigail] Yes.

- Or maybe not with sticks.

(Abigail laughing) - We have our entire like prayer sequence.

- Mm-hmm.

♪ When I go to sleep ♪ ♪ Fourteen angels watch to keep ♪ - Being able to reach children who do not necessarily are in touch with the opera repertoire is something I would've loved to have when I was a kid, you know.

I certainly, I'm sure I would have loved opera as a kid if I would've been introduced to it.

- Hansel and Gretel are in the woods and we're sneaking around.

And all of a sudden, we hear the Witch and the Witch says.

♪ Nibble nibble mousey, who's nibbling at my housie ♪ - You have to say boo.

- Boo!

(Daisy gasps) - And when the Witch says boo, we all turn to gingerbread men.

Everyone, show me your best gingerbread man.

(child exclaims) (children chattering) Oh, very nice, very nice.

So when the Witch comes around to see Hansel and Gretel, we all have to be gingerbread men.

♪ Nibble nibble mousey, who's nipping at my housie ♪ (children chattering) Boo!

- No, wait.

Wait.

(children laughing) (children chattering) - You.

- No.

- No!

- I just want you to give one more round of applause.

Thank you so much for coming today.

(all applauding) And we are so excited to see you Friday.

Thank you.

(audience chattering) - I hear it.

- Down there.

(audience chattering) (mellow piano music) ♪ Come let's nibble a bit of the cottage ♪ ♪ Yes, let's go ♪ ♪ Come, let's nibble it ♪ ♪ Yes, let's go ♪ (Hansel and Gretel singing) (mellow piano music) (audience gasps) ♪ Nibble, nibble, mousey, who's nibbling at my housie ♪ (door thuds) (suspenseful piano music) ♪ What was that sound ♪ (suspenseful piano music) ♪ The wind, the wind ♪ ♪ The heavenly wind ♪ (mellow piano music) ♪ Nibble, nibble, mousey, who's nibbling at my housie ♪ (Witch laughs) (door thuds) ♪ The wind, the wind ♪ ♪ The heavenly wind ♪ (mellow piano music) ♪ Nibble, nibble, mousey ♪ ♪ Here comes the cat from our housie ♪ (Gretel hisses) ♪ Eat all you want ♪ ♪ But leave me alone ♪ ♪ Why don't you share, it's only fair ♪ ♪ Look at your share, so why shall I care ♪ (Hansel and Gretel singing) (Witch singing) ♪ Who, who are you, let me go ♪ ♪ Your are mine and look you tasty ♪ - When we tell a story on the stage with the singing, there's other things too.

There's so much that goes into making an opera.

You might see costumes, you're gonna see some scenery, you're gonna see things called props.

Those are the things that people handle and carry.

Tri-Cities Opera has always been a good partner with us.

We borrow, rent and beg things from them frequently.

And in this instance, they let us use their costumes and then they built scenery for me based on what I needed or what I thought I needed for the show.

♪ I'm getting tired ♪ - I'm the artist, Amara and I work for Tri-Cities Opera and BU hires us to bring over props, bring over sets that we already have, sometimes to design and build sets for them.

And it's just really exciting.

It's one more way that this area gets exposure to opera, which is cool.

(performer singing) - [Thomas] We knew Binghamton from being resident artists at Tri-Cities Opera.

- Yeah.

- And it's the first program that connected a university with a professional opera company in the country.

And it's a wonderful program.

So our students that come will audition for Tri-Cities Opera and if they're cast or work in concerts with them, they get professional experience, while at the same time, they're getting their master's degree or undergraduate degree at Binghamton.

(Hansel and Gretel singing) - We give the students tons of opportunities to perform on campus at the university, but this gives a certain number of students a chance to go that next step.

♪ With your hands, you clap, clap, clap ♪ - The sets are sometimes 30, 40 years old and that we're the stewards of them.

And by stewards of them, one of the things I mean, is that we keep them in repair because we rent them out across the country.

So our shop here in Binghamton, New York is one of the largest opera shops in the country.

We're so lucky here that we can have all this space and build these sets.

So over the years, we've gotten to build these extraordinary sets.

And opera companies all over the country, Seattle, in California, in Colorado, they rent these sets that come in a truck from Binghamton and go out to them and are performed on stage in front of thousands of people.

(mellow piano music) (performer singing) - It looks easy, I guess, 'cause what people just see is someone that is waving a stick.

And that helps the musicians and the singers to be together and to be on time.

And we normally try to tell everyone that is involved when they have to sing, how they have to sing.

And we have different gestures that we use to actually make that happen.

So if something is to be, has a very big sound, we would probably do a big large gesture.

And if something is quiet, we'll probably do something smaller.

(mellow piano music) The rehearsal is literally led by the stage director.

And those rehearsals are for the singers to know where they are going to be standing or which movements they're gonna be doing in all the scenes throughout the entire show.

- Abby, have- - At the same time that we do that, they sort of like have to, really have to be multitasking.

They're still learning the music and they're still working on the notes that they're singing, when they have to sing it.

All of that, plus learning a different, you know, now I have to stand, now I have to run, now I have to do this or that.

Or where do I exit stage?

Is it left, right, whatever?

The only real way that there is, is to just rehearse constantly until that's so engraved in their brains that it's hard to go wrong.

- Gretel, not bad.

- I like to see it as a collaboration.

What one brings different is how you interpret it in terms of the story, of course, but also in terms of the music that is written.

The beauty that that music has, is that we may be able to see the same music, the same score in different ways.

I would see that score and say, oh, I think it goes this way.

And maybe in 10 years, I don't do it, I open it again, and I don't know if this, I was taking this tempo perhaps too fast, or I think this could be sung in a different way.

So it's al always a chance to find something new about this material.

And I think that's what keeps it still alive.

♪ Tra-la-la, tra-la-la, tra-la-la, la, la ♪ (mellow piano music) - [Group] Toy, toy, toy.

(performers exclaims and laughs) - Woo-hoo.

(performers clapping) - [Jean] We have a small enough department that we really know these students one-on-one.

And they will talk to you about their growth, and next steps, and what they've learned through each experience, and that's very gratifying.

- I always tell the students that you have to have talent, you have to have a strong work ethic and discipline because it's really competitive what we're doing.

But also really important is imagination, creativity.

So to see students on stage become the Witch, become Hansel, Gretel, to tell the story and become the character, it opens up a whole world to them.

(performer singing) If you ask them 10 years from now, where do you want to be, a lot of 'em want to be at the stage, you know, at the opera house.

If it can be the Metropolitan Opera, great.

(performer singing) They're working on it pretty much the whole semester.

Learning the music, working on it, and then doing the staging.

So to see them grow through that process, but also to bond together, right, when you're telling a story and you're working together as a cast, there's just a natural camaraderie that comes a part of that.

- [Performers] Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

- [Stage Hand] We're at places, everyone.

- [Performer] Thank you, places.

- Thank you.

(audience chattering) ♪ In the oven, be steady ♪ ♪ See if the gingerbread's ready ♪ ♪ Carefully look, pet, whether it's cooked yet ♪ ♪ But if needs more, quick, shut the door ♪ (mellow piano music) ♪ Gretel careful, oh, be careful ♪ ♪ I don't understand what I have to do ♪ ♪ Just stand on tiptoe, head bending forward ♪ ♪ Try it, I pray, it's merely play ♪ ♪ Careful now, careful now ♪ ♪ I'm such a dunce don't understand ♪ ♪ You'll have to show how to stand on tiptoe ♪ (foot stomps) (mellow piano music) ♪ Do as I say, it's merely play ♪ (mellow piano music) (footsteps pattering) (suspenseful piano music) (Witch exclaims) ♪ Then one little push, bang ♪ ♪ Goes the door, clang ♪ ♪ And the wicked Witch will be just done to a T ♪ (mellow piano music) ♪ Hurrah, now sing the Witch is gone, really gone ♪ ♪ We've overcome ♪ ♪ Hurrah ♪ (Hansel and Gretel singing) ♪ We can boast the witch is toast ♪ ♪ Her evil spell is done, we have won ♪ ♪ Let's have some fun ♪ ♪ Yes ♪ ♪ Let us celebrate, we sing and hop a bit ♪ ♪ For the old Witch is dead ♪ ♪ We'll have a lot of fun ♪ ♪ Hip-hurrah, hurrah ♪ ♪ Hip-hurrah, hip-hurrah ♪ ♪ Hurrah ♪ (mellow piano music) ♪ Tra-la-la, la-la, tra-la-la ♪ ♪ Were our children only here ♪ ♪ Tra-la-la, tra-la-la-la-la ♪ Ha, why look, they're really here.

(lighthearted piano music) ♪ Father, mother ♪ ♪ Mother, father ♪ ♪ Children dear ♪ ♪ It's Hansel and Gretel, safe and sound ♪ (lighthearted piano music) ♪ Children, here's a lesson taught ♪ ♪ How the Witch herself was caught ♪ ♪ Unaware in the snare laid for us with cunning bare ♪ ♪ We can see the lesson taught ♪ ♪ How the Witch herself was caught ♪ ♪ Unaware in her snare laid for us with cunning bare ♪ ♪ Evil cannot be ignored, virtue is its own reward ♪ ♪ When past bearing is our grief ♪ ♪ Heaven above will send us sure relief ♪ ♪ Yes, when past bearing is our grief ♪ ♪ Heaven above will send relief ♪ ♪ When past bearing is our grief ♪ ♪ Heaven above will send relief ♪ (lighthearted piano music) - Woo.

(lighthearted piano music) (audience cheering applauding) - [Child] Bravo!

- [Child] Encore, encore, encore.

(mellow piano music) ♪ With you foot, you tap, tap, tap ♪ ♪ With your hands, you clap, clap, clap ♪ ♪ Right foot first, left foot ♪ ♪ Then 'round and 'round and back again ♪ ♪ With you foot, you tap, tap, tap ♪ ♪ With your hands, you clap, clap, clap ♪ ♪ Right foot first, left foot ♪ ♪ Then 'round and back again ♪ ♪ That was very good indeed ♪ ♪ And I'm sure that you'll succeed ♪ ♪ Try again and I can see ♪ ♪ That you'll certainly dance like me ♪ ♪ With your head, you nick, nick, nick ♪ ♪ With your fingers, you click, click, click ♪ ♪ Right foot first and left foot, then ♪