OVERVIEW
Title: Lisa
Composer: Omar Daniel
Librettist: Alex Poch-Goldin
Commissioned By: Tapestry Opera
Language: English
Producer: Tapestry Opera
Roles:
Role | Voice Type | Range ? | Character Description |
---|---|---|---|
Lisa | middle-high | F2-Ab5 | A 12-year-old student |
Mr. Herwin | middle | A2-C#5 | A math teacher, recently widowed |
SYNOPSIS
Lisa is a twelve-year-old student at an all-girls school, where she is best friends with Annie and Caroline. Together they form a group called the Teacher's Angels, made up of girls who score perfect on their tests.
When Lisa scores a nine out of ten on a math test, she is kicked out of the group and humiliated by her former friends. Lisa, pleading innocence, appeals to the math teacher, the recently widowed Mr. Herwin, who claims that the answer to the question Lisa got wrong is 45- while Lisa's answer looks like 43. After again being humiliated by her former friends, Lisa sings an aria about how she is in love with Mr. Herwin, but he won't change her mark or look at her. Lisa grows desperate for his attention.
The next day at school, Annie and Caroline see Lisa making lemonade and weasle their way into getting some. Mr. Herwin is close by. When the girls have finished their drinks, they retire to the tall oak tree to prepare for their upcoming test. Once there, they are enveloped by a wave of sickness that burns the inside of their stomachs and weakens them. They begin to panic. Beneath the oak tree, Mr. Herwin finds the two girls dead as we hear Lisa in the distance singing a rhyme while skipping rope.
Mr. Herwin confronts Lisa with his conclusions about the girls' deaths and explains that he'll have to turn her in. Lisa, unfazed, tells him that she's reported to the principal that Mr. Herwin likes to "touch" little girls. Mr. Herwin is flabbergasted.
Confused as to what to do, Mr. Herwin is visited by the ghosts of Annie and Caroline who beg him to avenge their deaths and send them to heaven. Mr. Herwin calls Lisa back and tells her that her accusations are lies and that he can't protect her. Lisa gives him a valentine declaring her love but Herwin will not be swayed. Lisa tells Mr. Herwin that it's possible she sold poison lemonade to Mrs. Herwin and that's how she died so suddenly. Shocked, Mr. Herwin cannot fathom the little girl's actions and descends into madness while claiming his innocence.
MUSIC DESCRIPTION
SCORES FOR PURCHASE
Arias & Excerpts:
Lisa is devastated to get 9 out of 10 on her math test. She insists that she answered the question correctly, and pleads with Mr. Herwin to change her grade. Mr. Herwin says that her "45" looked like a "43", and that everyone makes mistakes.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lisa | middle-high | F#4-Gb5 |
Mr. Herwin | middle | D3-F#4 |
"A perfect score is all that counts." Lisa fixates on the consequences of her test and predicts that Annie and Caroline will banish her from "the circle of three" because of her imperfect score. She blames Mr. Herwin.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lisa | middle-high | F3-Ab5 |
Mr. Herwin tells Lisa he knows she killed her friends with poisoned lemonade. Lisa tells him she has told people he is a pedophile.
Character | Voice Type | Range ? |
---|---|---|
Lisa | middle-high | A3-G5 |
Mr. Herwin | middle | A2-C#5 |
PREMIERE PRODUCTION INFORMATION
Premiere Production: Tapestry Briefs 2001, Opera to Go 2002 at Isabel Bader Theatre, Victoria University, Toronto for the Opera America Conference.
Producers: Tapestry Opera
Cast:
Role | Name |
---|---|
Lisa | Rebecca Hass |
Mr. Herwin | Eric Shaw |
Role | Name |
---|---|
Music Director | Wayne Strongman |
Director | Banuta Rubess |
Stage Manager | Isolde Pleasants-Faulkner |
Production Manager | Aidan Cosgrave |
CREATION
QUOTATIONS FROM MEDIA
"Hilarious, yet disturbing... Daniel and Poch-Goldin are a team who understands keying music to lyrics. Their use of monologues and ensembles was skillful, the atmosphere was wonderfully varied and, more to the point, the whole was richly dramatic."
- Opera Canada Magazine
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