A New Artform, a Familiar Story of Resilience: Virginia Opera Presents Musical Production of “The Three Little Pigs” for HRA’s Lower School

What happens when a classic fable meets the elevated artform of opera?

On the morning of Tuesday, October 27, Hampton Roads Academy’s Lower School was blown away by the answer when Virginia Opera presented a musical production of The Three Little Pigs for students in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 4, right on the stage of the Svein J. Lassen Auditorium.

The official opera company of the Commonwealth, Virginia Opera has delivered acclaimed musical and dramatic performances for more than 50 years. Committed to education and outreach as well as artistic excellence, the company’s Opera in the Classroom program has partnered with the HRA Lower School for over a decade to introduce young learners to a time-honored form of theatre many have never encountered before, all while reinforcing the Academy’s emphasis on character education.

As Director of Lower School Susanne Swain ’78 explained, Virginia Opera’s visit served “a twofold purpose”: “It’s a great opportunity for our kids to be exposed to live performances that are age-appropriate and also have an underlying message that dovetails with the meaningful lessons that we’re trying to teach them as they’re growing up in the Lower School.”

Virginia Opera’s performance of The Three Little Pigs, directed by Jason Kypros, follows the company’s presentation of the modern children’s opera Dragon’s Breath at HRA this past January. It also represents the continuation of a long tradition of outside musical performances that have enriched the Lower School experience, including not only operas, but also such special events as theatrical productions by the Virginia Stage Company and a visit from storyteller and musician Charlotte Blake Alston, due to return in February after a previous program at HRA two years ago. At a time of limited funding for the arts across the Commonwealth and throughout the country, HRA is proud to support creative professionals with a passion for early childhood education, especially young singers and actors just establishing themselves in the opera world.

Centering on the theme of persistence and growth in the face of adversity, The Three Little Pigs was an ideal fit for Lower Schoolers during HRA’s Year of Resilience. As the students gear up for the annual Lower School Halloween Parade on Friday, October 30, the opera may also inspire a few Little Pig and Big Bad Wolf costumes!

“Something that Will Withstand the Storms of Life”

An operatic reimagining of the well-known nursery rhyme tailored to Lower School-aged audiences, The Three Little Pigs tells a familiar story through the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, adapted by John Davies. On the stage at HRA, stellar acting and vocals combined with a dynamic set designed by Roberta Brennan, beautiful costumes crafted by Pat Seyller, and an exquisite piano accompaniment by Oleg Bellini to bring the fable to life.

When silly pigs Cherubino (mezzo-soprano Melanie Dubil) and Don Giovanni (tenor Douglas Culclasure) hastily build homes out of straw and sticks, their sister Despina (soprano Maggie Kinabrew) decides to take a different approach, visiting the library to learn how she can build a strong house out of bricks. Soon, the huffing and puffing of Wolfgang Bigbad (baritone Joel Clemens) puts the pigs’ dwellings to the test. As only Despina’s is left standing, sheltering her brothers safely inside, the protagonists—and the students in the audience—learn that careful preparation, the pursuit of knowledge, and a love of reading can be the keys to success.

Virginia Opera’s highly engaging, humorous, and memorable production underscored the importance of the literacy and problem-solving skills that Lower Schoolers are developing each day in the classroom and beyond. Crucially, the performance also communicated the idea that resilience in challenging situations can be bolstered by foresight, planning, proactiveness, and deliberate effort.

Indeed, in The Three Little Pigs, the only house the Big Bad Wolf cannot topple is the one that took the longest to build. “The lesson there is: take your time, go slow, really think about how you’re going to build something, and in the end, it will pay off,” Swain explained. “You will find that you have something that will withstand the storms of life.”

The Lower Schoolers’ familiarity with the tale of the Three Little Pigs, buttressed by a study guide and classroom activities provided by Virginia Opera ahead of the performance, helped students follow and connect with the narrative even as it unfolded through an unfamiliar artform. No less important for helping them grasp the abstract concept of resilience embedded in the story, Swain stressed, was the concrete challenge of building something with one’s own hands, an experience young children universally recognize from their play and from school projects.

This relatable example of a task that requires resilience echoed the Lower School’s September Leadership Assembly, where Swain introduced HRA’s yearly theme and connected it to a book she had read to all Lower School classes the prior week, Ashley Spires’ The Most Magnificent Thing. The story of a young girl who struggles to construct a creation she imagined in her mind but persists through disappointment, frustration, and the temptation to quit, this foundational text for the year, like The Three Little Pigs, demonstrated to students that they must remain undeterred by setbacks. If they stay resilient when they do not immediately achieve the results they expected, both in school and throughout their lives, they will have the opportunity to improve next time, grow more confident, and ultimately discover profound fulfillment.

Simple Messages and Awakened Passions

Providing exposure to a total artform that combines musicianship, storytelling, and visual artistry across sets, props, costumes, and makeup, visits by Virginia Opera are an enriching complement to the many hands-on opportunities HRA’s Lower School offers for students to build creativity and character through the performing arts.

At monthly Leadership Assemblies, grade-level theatrical productions and musical performances, and beloved community events like Grandparents and Special Friends Day, Lower Schoolers demonstrate their musical, acting, and oratorical talents and develop confidence in front of an audience. In the coming months, they will have the unique opportunity to share the stage with Middle and Upper School Navigators at the schoolwide Holiday Arts Happening in December and in the main-stage musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in late February.

Alongside these many learning experiences, professional opera performances deepen young students’ artistic literacy and open their eyes to possible creative career paths. Following the conclusion of The Three Little Pigs, the Lower Schoolers had the chance to gain a fuller understanding of the performers’ work as artists by asking them about the technical aspects of putting on an opera and the musical training that enabled the cast members’ voices to fill the auditorium.

Swain was delighted to hear students enthusiastically explain what they had learned as they exited the auditorium, highlighting such lessons as the need to be determined, believe in oneself, and keep trying to achieve a goal. “Those simple messages that they derive from these performances are important,” she said.

But no less rewarding, the Lower School director observed, was the students’ excitement about the artistic elements of the production, as they exclaimed, “I loved the costumes!” or “I loved the sets!”

“We all take away something different when we see a live performance,” Swain noted. “It tells me that they’ve been engrossed, that they’ve enjoyed it, and that this is a tradition that we ought to continue.”