Running time: 55 minutes

This all-new Eric Einhorn production features
the Michigan Opera Theatre
Children's Chorus

Brundibar, a children’s opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása and librettist Adolf Hoffmeister, was originally performed by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II. The name comes from a Czech colloquialism for bumblebee.

Brundibar is the story of two children, Little Joe and Annette, who have no money to buy milk for their ailing mother. Seeing passersby giving coins to the organ grinder Brundibar, the children try to earn money by singing on the street corner. Brundibar chases them away, but a friendly Dog, Cat and Sparrow help them round up the other children in town, who form a choir large enough to compete with the organ grinder. When Brundibar steals Little Joe’s hatful of coins, the children overpower him. Little Joe succeeds in his quest to buy milk, and the children are victorious!

ELA STEIN WEISSBERGER
Special guest Ela Stein Weissberger will introduce both performances and answer questions after them. Author of the book The Cat with the Yellow Star, she dedicates her time to traveling the world and sharing her story in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. One of only 100 Terezin children who survived World War II, Weissberger played the part of the Cat in 55 performances of Brundibar.