Family Opera Initiative to present new adaptation of Goodnight Moon

Margaret Wise Brown’s beloved children’s story, “Goodnight Moon,” will come alive for families on the East End in a new musical based on the book that will be presented at the Rogers Mansion of the Southampton Historical Museum this month.

Family Opera Initiative, a New York-based “opera-musical” company, and Glen Roven—a composer most recently known for his musical adaptation of another Brown classic “The Runaway Bunny”—have teamed up to offer local families a sneak preview of Mr. Roven’s musical version of “Goodnight Moon” on Thursday, August 6, at 4 p.m. at the museum.

Like his violin concerto based on “The Runaway Bunny”—which was performed and recorded in London by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra—Mr. Roven’s “Goodnight Moon” will make its official concert debut at Carnegie Hall.

The Carnegie Hall concert, set for May 2010, will feature baritone Mark Stone with the Buffalo Philharmonic.

The preview performance in Southampton, meanwhile, will be presented on a much smaller scale. “Goodnight Moon” will be arranged for soprano Charlotte Cohn, and Mr. Roven will provide a piano accompaniment.

Mr. Roven wrote in an e-mail last week that the piece is “a lullaby for singer and orchestra ... though it’s more of a concert aria.”

“It’s hard for me to describe the piece,” he wrote, “but I hope others would say it’s very beautiful and very moving—just like the book.”

And though Mr. Roven, a four-time Emmy Award winner, has put together an impressive resume in both classical and popular music, Thursday’s performance will mark his first collaboration with Family Opera Initiative.

He wrote in the e-mail that he is nevertheless eager to partner with the company.

“Anything that exposes young children to music is something I want to be involved with,” he wrote.

And Grethe Barrett Holby, founder and artistic director of Family Opera Initiative, said in an interview last week she was equally excited to be working with Mr. Roven.

“I just loved his work,” Ms. Holby said. “He’s able to do such wonderful music. He writes for children’s music beautifully.”

A part-time Southampton resident for more than two decades, Ms. Holby said Mr. Roven will kick off Thursday’s performance with a talk about “Goodnight Moon.”

“We want the audience to get to know the piece inside and out before we play it through,” she said. “It’s a 10-minute piece, but it’s so full and lush.”

Family Opera Initiative, established by Ms. Holby in 1995 as a program of American Opera Projects, has developed many “opera-musicals” for family audiences over the years, including a handful of private benefit performances on the East End.

But this year’s afternoon event will be the first of its kind.

“We generally have done a private benefit concert, but this year, we wanted to share the work with a broader audience,” Ms. Holby said. “I wanted everyone to be able to come.”

Not surprisingly, her aim of making the concert affordable matches the company’s overall goals.

Ms. Holby said she founded Family Opera Initiative to make opera interesting for audiences of all ages.

“Traditional operas are often inaccessible to today’s audiences,” she said. “They were written in another time, in another language.”

“When opera was made in Germany or Italy, it wasn’t some unattainable thing,” she explained. “My goal was to make opera and music theater that was totally accessible, totally American and totally vernacular.”

And while Ms. Holby said she believes the company has achieved this, she added she often finds herself explaining the inclusion of “family” in its title.

“Family doesn’t only mean mothers and small children,” she said.

“Family can be me and my 88-year-old mother,” she said. “Family is even someone who doesn’t have kids at all.”

“What we’re doing is meant to appeal and reach out to a multi-generational audience,” she said.

“We want to make opera much more tangible and accessible,” she said. “We’re pushing opera into the 21st century.”

Glen Roven’s new musical version of “Goodnight Moon” will be performed at the Rogers Mansion of the Southampton Historical Museum on Meeting House Lane in Southampton on Thursday, August 6, at 4 p.m. A minimum donation of $20 for adults, $12 for children, and $15 for students and seniors, is requested. The concert will also include a performance of Mr. Roven’s “Plums, Five Songs For Kids,” and cookies, lemonade and ice cream will be served after the show. For more information, call 212-431-7039.