Postcard from Morocco April 20, 2012

The Opera Studio's tribute to the composer leads off with Argento's opera based on A Child's Garden of Verse by Robert Louis Stevenson.

A group of people wait in a railway station. A lady with a hand mirror. A man, Mr. Owen, with a paint box. A passenger with luggage. Another man has a cornet case.

A hat maker, a shoe salesman and a woman with a cake box. A puppet maker appears, talking about all of the things that go into puppet making. The puppet show concludes, and everyone but Mr. Owen leaves. He sings about the ship of his childhood dreams.

Rather than being plot-driven, the work draws its strength from the emotional impressions created by its characterizations.

http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/2010/c/performances/performance?rowid=13737