a one-act musical comedy for children
By John Davies and Ross Dabrusin
Photo courtesy
of The Billings Gazette
Rimrock Opera, Billings, begins Phase 3 of its
educational outreach school tour this month. At its
conclusion, the spring and autumn segments of the
2006 tour of "The Night Harry Stopped Smoking" had
reached 14,000 students in eight weeks. During Phase
3, we will tour 20 schools to help 4,000 students in
Billings, Bozeman and northern Wyoming understand
the risks of tobacco use.
The
object of this tour is to educate young children to
the dangers of nicotine addiction which is the
direct result of smoking cigarettes.
Local kids will join our professional cast to learn
not only about the dangers of smoking but also the
joys of musical theater.
Harry falls asleep in his chair one night with a
cigarette in his hand. He wakes to find himself
inside his own lung! He meets the crew trying to
keep his body clean--nerve cells Fred and Ginger,
ciliary cells Sid and Cilia, Pumper his Heart, and a
whole bunch of lung sacs called Alveoli. Their
message: his smoking is making them sick.
To see a pdf slide presentation of a performance,
click
here
Photo by JAMES WOODCOCK/Gazette Staff
(October 30) Rimrock Opera Company director Doug
Nagel, center, acts with opera singers and dancers,
from left, Dennis Rupp, Maria Day, Banielle Nichols
and Laura Twelves. The group was performing "The
Night Harry Stopped Smoking" for students at
Bitterroot Elementary Monday afternoon. The outreach
program focuses on the dangers of smoking through a
comical operetta/musical. The opera company will
continue the program today at Sandstone Elementary
and Park City School, and Wednesday will perform at
Roosevelt School in Red Lodge and Roberts School.
