Madama Butterfly - La Opera: Fill & Download for Free

La BohémeMagic FluteThe Barber of SevilleMarriage of FigaroDer RosenkavalierSalomeMadama ButterflyLa TraviataFalstaffThe Dialogues of the CarmelitesA Rake's Progressand many, many more…

TurandotMadama ButterflyLa TraviataLa BohemeThese are all blockbusters

I’m so glad you’ve asked this question, because it gives me the opportunity to say: for God’s sake not fucking Hänsel und Gretel. So many companies seem to think this is a great Christmas/children’s opera and I have no clue what they’re thinking. This opera is terrifying, the music is WAY too complex for most parents to really get into it, let alone the kids, it’s very hard to translate well… It feels to me like this is the operatic equivalent of a parent being like “ooh, ‘The Shining,’ sounds like a beautiful film about sunlight, I’ll take my kids!” Except instead of one parent, it’s the ENTIRE opera industry doing this.So not Hänsel und Gretel. Don’t get me wrong, it’s actually an underrated opera, in my opinion, just not for kids.As for what’s actually a good choice, I think a lot of this depends on age/interests/attention span of kids. But basically my feeling is that anything you pick shouldn’t be that long, and then you should basically pick between three archetypes:Fairy Tale Operas! Opera, surprisingly, lends itself really well to fairy tale, as a medium, largely because of the big sets and costumes, and the suspension of disbelief. The classic fairy tale operas also have problems in the wrong production, so be smart about this. The wrong Magic Flute can be sexist. The wrong Turandot can be racist. The wrong Rusalka can be a depressing version of The Little Mermaid (lol). But if you find the right production, these are great choices.Bel Canto fluff. The principle here is that we’re willing to pick decent-but-not-lifechanging music in exchange for funny plots. I’m thinking of La Fille du Regiment, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, etc. Your kids will recognize some tunes, laugh at least a few times, and this will definitely keep them willing to come back.Hard core opera. When I was a kid, I was driven nuts when people condescended to me. If your kids are in this camp, I vote that you take them to adult opera, but the shortest, most perfect examples of adult opera. Stuff like Rigoletto, La Traviata, La Bohème, etc. is all well under 3 hours, including all intermissions, and basically perfectly-proportioned, so even a modern audience won’t think there’s any fat in the piece.I would avoid classic adult first operas with kids. I’m thinking of stuff like Carmen, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Le Nozze di Figaro, etc. My impression is that these are long and plot-y and that’s hard for kids. I’ve been surprised, as an adult, to try to get friends into opera after they went once at 14 to one of these classic operas. They weren’t old enough, but they forever judged the genre as a result, and what’s more they ruined a great and accessible piece for themselves. I know some people who have had success with these as kids (Don Giovanni was my first opera as a kid, I loved it), but…