The Children’s Crusade

Luminato is still in full effect peeps, which means I’m runnin’ around like a chicken with its head cut off…  it’s Monday and I’m headin’ to an abandoned warehouse to see The Children’s Crusade. Ya heard correct an abandoned warehouse is the venue where the Canadian Children’s Opera  Company is choosing to showcase the world-premiere of their opera.  Reasons like this is why Luminato is off the chain!!! I’m on the Dufferin bus heading towards the Ex, I figure I might as well use my time wisely, you know do some reading about this opera. Apparently, it’s no run of the mill production. It was commissioned from composer R. Murray Schafer in celebration of his 75th birthday. The Children’s Crusade is based on the phenomenal passage of the 13th century where hundreds of thousands of children from France and Germany were dedicated to liberating the Holy Land with love  instead of force. WOW!! Power to the kids…we can’t even get kids to play nice on the schoolyard much less crusade. As soon as I dropped the press release in my purse I realized I’m sailing by my stop, the bus driver was nice enough to stop dead so I could hop out. And of course you know I’m always fashionable late… hehe. I arrive like literally five minutes late, and of course I have to miss the whole first scene… yea kinda pissed. But I didn’t miss much just the Holy Child getting his divine intervention from an angel . Nonetheless, it gave me a second to take in the space, first off they weren’t lying when they said “abandoned”, It was for real like straight flash back to the yester-years of good ol’ warehouse parties. Finally the garage door gets raised with chains, I’m allowed entrance into a whole new world… I’m speechless and you know that rarely happens. You enter the space which is the stage itself… I mean the warehouse was filled with rafters, runways, wooden crates all of theses elements formed an outlandish set. Before I could completely wrap my head around things, my eyes dart to the center stage where a swarm of children are in full chorus about some kid being the Holy Child. Its pretty jaw dropping. No word of a lie the cast has over a hundred people and believe me they need it to pull of a production like this. The audience is standing the whole time “God Bless Nike makes flats” and we move around the set following the cast on their  journey from one scene to other using the entire warehouse… As we follow the Holy Child and his crew around the streets & byways of France we feel as we are joining the crusade… I ((heart)) the modern twist and interpretation of the story which is quite refreshing especially the scene in the burlesque lounge with all the vices and temptations surrounding this Holy Child. As the crusaders come to the end of their journey they are met by massive walls of wave that they know will lead to there demise and surely signify the failure of there crusade. This had to be my favourite part… OMG, to represent the waves they literally used other cast members… it was so wicked when the Holy Child and his crew entered the waves they we physically pulled down down into the abyss. WOW!!! that totally exceeded my expectations, not that I had any. To be honest The Children’s Crusade is up there as one of my over all faves of Luminato… reason being its what the festival is all about. Not to mention, this production as lead me on a crusade to be a avid opera goer, you know I gotta change up on ya… LOL!!!

xoxo                                                                                                                                                                                                       Pinkie