Delegates were treated to a performance of The Cricket in Times Square , OperaDelaware s Family Opera Theatre presentation for 2001. Board Member Karen DiChiera provided these reports on the performance, the discussion session that followed, and OperaDelaware s fantastic success in family opera theatre. This is a story about, Chester, an opera singing cricket from the country who accidentally ends up in Times Square. He is befriended by Mario Bellini, the son of Italian immigrants who owns a news-stand. After the radio program, everyone in Times Square rushes to buy Opera News at the news-stand.
People buy other papers and magazines, too, and the news-stand is saved.
The two lead children were nine year old Marios Falaris as Chester Cricket and seventh grader Ryan Miller as Mario Bellini. Their singing and acting entranced the audience. Special mention should be made about Marios singing which had to include excerpts from several arias. While I looked through my pages of notes on this outstanding branch of Opera Delaware, I asked Evelyn Swensson if there was any other factor that contributed to the success of Family Opera Theater. It also boasts a charming 500 seat theater and is furnished with a hint of the Victorian Era.