About a year ago I received a new CD of famous Italian arias. Although I understand not a word of Italian, I am very moved by and thoroughly enjoy listening to the many arias which are familiar to me. I clearly recall my first exposure to opera, as a child. I was 7 years old and my father took me on my “first date” to the Metropolitan Opera House, in NYC, to hear “Carmen.” It must have captured my soul, Because, still at age 61, I remember that night as one of the great highlights of my childhood, a part of my introduction to the world of art, music, theatre and dance. We dined that night at Danny’s Hideaway, just Daddy and me.

My grandchildren are still very young (ages 2-7) but, I too, wanted to introduce them to
Opera. On one of their visits, last year, I began by setting the stage. I cleared my living 
room of distractions, invited them all in for a “surprise event” and began to play my new 
CD of Italian arias. The SURPRISE was that I appeared in a home-made “Elmo” costume, one of their favorite characters. To further enchant them, I held a dinosaur puppet and a Barbie doll. In addition, I had gathered a few “household props” to peek their interest. I began to dance, (in my totally untrained “grandma fashion”), to the music of one of the up-beat arias, while involving the dinosaur puppet and Barbie doll into my performance. I kept to the rhythm of the music and invited each of the children to join me. Within seconds all 6 of us were dancing around the room, sharing the props and having a wonderful time. All this to music they had never heard before, but they knew Elmo, Barbie and the dinosaur.

At the end of the first aria, which actually lasted about 4 minutes, I turned off the music. The children were still giggling and asked for more. I promised them that after dinner we would do this again. All during dinner they talked about the “funny singing, dancing and music” and asked if, when we do this again, “can we do it with Cookie Monster and Big Bird too?” They were hooked!