Get Stuffed

A Black woman and man wearing chefs' uniforms stand holding out baskets of healthy food.

CAST: Neema Bickersteth & Ryan Allen

A white woman in a light green cafeteria worker uniform stands behind a counter covered in french fries, hamburgers, and donuts.

CAST: Catharin Carew

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OVERVIEW

Title: Get Stuffed
Composer: Richard Payne
Librettist: Alexis Diamond
Commissioned By:

Tapestry Opera

Language: English
Producer:

Tapestry Opera

Run Time:

Roles:

Role	Voice Type	Range ?	Character Description
Zach	middle-low	F2-F#4	A student learning about healthy food.
Cafeteria Worker	middle-high	G3-G5	Hates children, but loves her tidy cafeteria.
Chef	high	D4-C6	Young and hip, hired to introduce fresh foods to the school.
Sous-Chef #1 (George)	middle	D2-C5	Accompanies the Chef.
Sous-Chef #2 (Sid	low	E2-E4	Accompanies the Chef.
Teacher	high	D4-C6	Sympathetic to Zach’s plight.
Apple	high	D4-C6	Demure yet forceful, the leader of the Garden Trio.
Carrot	middle	D2-C5	A young, dapper, leading man, annoyed by Broccoli’s booming voice.
Broccoli	low	E2-E4	Likes to be the centre of attention, hardly notices Carrot.
Cheese	low	E2-E4	Food Items manifested by Zach’s Mind and Stomach.
French Fries	middle-high	G3-G5	Food Items manifested by Zach’s Mind and Stomach.
Chocolate Bar	middle	D2-C5	Food Items manifested by Zach’s Mind and Stomach.
Hamburger on a white bun	middle	D2-C5	Food Items manifested by Zach’s Mind and Stomach.
Various students	high		Chorus

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Orchestration: Keyboard, Percussion

SYNOPSIS

Get Stuffed is a comic opera about serious decisions, featuring vocalizing vegetables and a big helping of other opinionated edible characters, all competing to influence one child's daily diet. Written for 5 singing actors and 2 musicians, this opera is intended for family audiences and touring to schools with a focus on encouraging youth to make wholesome dietary choices. Set in the school cafeteria, it promotes environmentally‐friendly, healthy food choices inspired by the Canada Food Guide with special prominence for fruits and vegetables grown in Ontario. With a story that includes foods representative of Canada’s ethnic diversity, this opera is a feast for young ears, eyes and minds.

MUSIC DESCRIPTION

Composer Richard Payne's whimsical and imaginative score lends remarkable clarity to each larger-than-life character in this ensemble piece, from Zach's obsession with "burgers and fries" to the ensemble's pleas for him to widen his culinary horizons. Payne's nimble musical setting and fine pacing leaves plenty of room for drama in this high-stakes cafeteria showdown.

SCORES FOR PURCHASE

Piano Vocal Scores:

Get Stuffed – Piano Vocal Score

Purchase This Score

Libretto:

Get Stuffed – Libretto

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Get Stuffed FR – Libretto

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Arias & Excerpts:

Get Stuffed - Scene 1

Zach's class studies the Canada Food Guide, making Zach's tummy grumble.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Teacher	high	D4-E5
Zach	middle-low	B2-C#4
Student	middle-high	D#4-F#5
Student	middle-low	A#3-E4
Student	low	E2-B3

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Get Stuffed - Scene 2

Zach longs for a lunch of junk food!

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	middle-low	G#2-F4
offstage voices	middle	D#4-B4
offstage voices	middle-low	B3-E4
offstage voices	middle-low	B2-A3

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Get Stuffed - Scene 3

The Cafeteria Worker sets out orderly rows of premade junk food in her spic-and-span kitchen. Just then, a trio of Chefs show up and toss all of the junk food out!

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Cafeteria Worker	middle-high	B3-F5
Chef	high	F#4-B4
Sous Chef	middle	B3-F#4
Sous Chef	middle-low	C3-B3

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Get Stuffed - Scene 4

Zach and the Cafeteria Worker are perplexed by the Chefs' new healthy homemade menu. They promise Zach that eating this way will be delicious and good for him, too! Zach passes out from hunger and empty calories. He is so hungry!

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Cafeteria Worker	middle-high	A3-Eb5
Zach	middle-low	Bb2-F4
Chef	high	D4-C6
Sous Chef	middle	Eb3-G4
Sous Chef	low	F2-D4

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Get Stuffed - Scene 5

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 1: A life-size Chocolate Bar entices him... only to turn into a Carrot!

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	middle-low	A2-D4
Chocolate Bar	middle	G3-Bb4

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Get Stuffed - Scene 6

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 2: The Garden Trio (Apple, Carrot and Broccoli) treat Zach to a savoury song about vitamins.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	silent-spoken	silent
Apple	middle-high	E4-F5
Carrot	middle	Eb3-C5
Broccoli	low	F2-Ab4

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Get Stuffed - Scene 7

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 3: Sultry French Fries interrupts the Trio to tempt Zach, but is pulled up short by Big Cheese. There's a new Sheriff in town.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	middle-low	D3-D4
French Fries	middle-high	G3-B4
Big Cheese	low	B2-E3

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Get Stuffed - Scene 8

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 4: Big Cheese tries to convince Zach to eat healthy by crooning a song oozing with cheesy puns.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	middle-low	E3-D4
Big Cheese	low	C3-E4

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Get Stuffed - Scene 9

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 5: Food fight! The healthy and unhealthy foods fight over Zach. In the melee, Apple is struck by an airborne French fry.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	middle-low	C3-D4
Big Cheese	low	B2-Eb4
French Fries	middle-high	C4-E5
Burger	middle	G3-F4
Apple	middle-high	G4-F5

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Get Stuffed - Scene 10

Zach's hunger-hallucination, Part 6: Apple expires in true operatic fashion in Zach's arms. Zach grieves.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	middle-low	G#3-E4
Apple	middle-high	F4-E5
Big Cheese	low	C3-C4
French Fries	middle-high	C4-C5
Burger	middle	F3-E4

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Get Stuffed - Scene 11

Zach wakes from his hallucination a changed boy. Now open to trying new options, he samples the new menu. Zach's tummy rumbles in appreciation!

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	middle-low	Bb2-Eb4
Chef	high	D4-B5
Sous Chef	middle	D#3-G4
Sous Chef	low	E2-B3
Cafeteria Worker	middle-high	B3-G5

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Get Stuffed - Finale (with Audience)

A brief anthem to healthy eating.

Character	Voice Type	Range ?
Zach	middle-low	Bb2-Eb4
Cafeteria Worker	middle-high	B3-G5
Chef	high	D4-B5
Sous Chef	middle	D#3-G4
Sous Chef	low	E2-B3
Chorus	high	A3-G4
Audience	high	A3-G4

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PREMIERE PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Producers:

Tapestry Opera

Cast:

Role	Name
Zach	Christopher Ryan
Cafeteria Worker	Catharin Carew
Chef	Neema Bickersteth
Sous-Chef #1	Ryan Allen

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Premiere Production Team:

Role	Name
Director/Dramaturg	Emily Tibaldo
Music Director	Wayne Strongman
Stage Manager	Fiona Jones
Costumes and Set Design	Beth Kates

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CREATION

DEVELOPMENT

Get Stuffed, a comic opera about serious decisions, is one component of a school presentation which includes a study guide for teachers, a workshop for teachers and students, and a performance of the opera. Helping children make intelligent choices about foods is the central theme of the opera. The underlying objective is helping school boards reach a consensus about best teaching practices in the field of nutrition. By delivering the healthy eating message through music and drama, opera appeals, on an emotional level, to a diverse audience of children of all ages. The workshops enable teachers and students to engage fully with the performance. The study guide, website and future DVD will provide a continuing resource to the community.

While Get Stuffed is intended for children, it will also impact parents and teachers by showing new ways of motivating children to eat well. Children will be given the tools to learn how to choose foods wisely and to discern the difference between good health and glossy food packaging. Promoting healthy eating is challenging for teachers in the classroom. Get Stuffed provides the teachers with an innovative approach using story, drama, music, costume and imagination to teach nutrition. Parents can also be influenced when their inspired children are empowered to ask for and enjoy healthy choices at home.

Target audiences: Children SK to Grade 6, Family audiences, Educators

QUOTATIONS FROM CREATIVE TEAM

Get Stuffed is an original Canadian children’s comedic opera designed to make children want to make healthy choices about eating. Words in Motion has long felt that the way to discuss this important topic with children is not through dry and boring lectures on nutrition but rather through an emotionally charged colorful middle. Music and opera convey emotion more powerfully than any other art form and, as choosing what to eat is inextricably connected to our emotions, we felt opera would be the perfect vehicle. We were delighted to see this dream come true through a partnership with Tapestry Opera, who are one of the most significant arts organizations in Toronto and in the development of new opera, in the world.

As long-time participants in the fields of education and the arts, we at Words in Motion know there is no better way to get the messages of healthy eating, local food, and cooking at home across to children than through this multi-sensorial, vivid and humorous production. Vocalizing vegetables, dancing chocolate bars and the temptress French Fries along with her side-kick Cheeseburger, say, and sing, it all in just over half an hour.

Get Stuffed advocates for a change in behaviour by empowering children to make informed decisions about their food choices. Words in Motion has initiated the project to advocate for an innovative approach to teaching children about healthy eating. While music, vivid graphics, story and imagination are regularly used to sell less than healthy food products to children, these powerful elements are not used by educators to teach the benefits of choosing otherwise.

-Words in Motion

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

In April 2009 we kicked off the first leg of the Get Stuffed Provincial Tour with 36 sold out school performances over three weeks and will reach 10,000 students throughout the GTA and Hamilton.

"You capture the inner struggle of the heart through the middle of healthy food versus junk food with wonderful simplicity and true beauty; a refreshing approach to a subject beaten to death by nauseous lectures and television talk show topics. Bless you. My Grade 4 class was very focused."

- Grade 4 teacher, Dundas Public School

A French version of Get Stuffed was also created.

Get Stuffed - Study Guide

MEDIA

PRODUCTION PHOTOS

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