Lesson Set 3: THe Very Last Green Thing

Michael Patrick Albano is a librettist and stage director. He has written three original children’s opera libretti: The Very Last Green Thing and The Thunder of Horses (a story based upon Blackfoot Indian legends). Both operas, originally commissioned by the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, have had successful productions throughout North America. In 2004, Mr. Albano was commissioned by the Washington Opera to write and direct a children’s opera, The Enchantment of Dreams, which premièred at the Kennedy Center. In December of 2005, Albano was commissioned by Canadian Opera Children’s Chorus to write a libretto based upon Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. The result was A Dickens of a Christmas, first presented at the Harbourfront Theatre in December of 2005. Albano’s interest in the development of opera libretti has led to his involvement for the past ten seasons as resident dramaturge for the Tapestry New Opera Works annual composer/librettist laboratory.

(Adapted from Allison Felter, Director of Education & Community Programs, Opera Theatre of St. Louis)

During the prologue, children from the year 1999 carefully place items in a time capsule to be found by a future generation. The action fast-forwards to a classroom in the year 2492. The Android announces the day’s lesson, which is “People who Have Influenced our Lives,” and which ends with the class agreeing that Benjamin Franklin is most important, solely because of his discovery of electricity. The class moves to the national ode, which concludes, “We turn away from the sentimentalist / Who longs for music and trees,” followed by mass confusion as to what even is a tree. The students take a rare field trip outside and discover the time capsule. The children of 2492, assisted by the children from 1999, remove and inspect each item and wonder about its use. The last object to be found is a withered green plant, which the Android insists be left behind.

Amy, the child who found the plant, is compelled by this strange object and secretly takes it with her. In her bedroom, Amy examines the plant and wonders why she had never seen anything like it before. The next day in class, the Android notices that Amy has the plant and reprimands her. As he does so, the students begin a barrage of questions about the object, during which the Android short-circuits. The opera ends with the children from 1999 and 2492 uniting as they water the plant and bring it back to life, while singing of the importance of loving and nurturing “all things that are living.”

Cary John Franklin, a composer and conductor, was educated in Minnesota at Macalester College and the University of Minnesota. He has studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Dominick Argento and Dale Warland. Other mentors include Philip Brunelle and William McGlaughlin. Franklin is a nationally recognized composer with commissions and performances from many of the leading ensembles in the United States. His work ranges from chamber music to orchestral, from choral writing to opera. Franklin has received commissions from the Dale Warland Singers, VocalEssence, Kansas City Symphony, Chanticleer, Washington National Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, which commissioned his The Very Last Green Thing in 1992.

Franklin is Music Director of the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis and among his guest conducting invitations are the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and Washington National Opera. Mr. Franklin has served four terms on the Board of the American Composers Forum, of which he is a past Chair, and has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.