The opera from ‘Let’s make an Opera’!
Benjamin Britten
“The little Sweep” for children age 8-14 .
Johannes Mertl, conductor
Karl Wenninger, stage director and acting teacher (Team of Childrens Choir of Wiener Staatsoper).
The housekeeper Miss Baggott shows the sweepmaster Black Bob, his assistant Clem and the new sweepboy Sam where they must start. Black Bob and Clem send the tearful Sam up the chimney and leave him to it. But he gets stuck, and his cries are heard by the children of the house, Juliet, Gay and Sophie Brook, and their visiting friends John, Hugh and Tina Crome. Having rescued the filthy little boy from the chimney, they decide to rescue him from the sweep too. First they make it look as if Sam has run off, then they hide him from Miss Baggott and the returning sweeps. Afterwards, when the coast is clear, they let the Crome’s kind-hearted nursery-maid Rowan into their secret, and together they wash, feed and clothe Sam and plot how to get him back home. The next morning Rowan and the children hide Sam in a trunk they are taking with them and smuggle him out of the house. (Source: Boosey&Hawkes).