This young British composer has set two of the famous children's stories by Maurice Sendak as one-act operas for children. The star of this story is a Sealyham Terrier who rejects her bored, one-room life as a domestic animal and leaps out a window. Her future career is suggested by a chance meeting with a pig carrying a sandwich board. It advertises for an acress "With Experience" to join a theatre-troupe to present the play "Higglety-Pigglety-Pop." She spends a week meeting various characters of various species, gaining "Experience" at every step. Finally, she qualifies, joins the theatre troupe, and gets the starring role. At the end, "Higglety-Pigglety-Pop" seems to be enjoying a successful run of many performances. The music is in a very modern style, but then children at that age of not yet learned that modernist classical music is "difficult." (Besides, they hear just as wild in soundtracks.) Very charming.





© All Music Guide