From magic shoes to a singing parrot, Binghamton University’s performance of the opera How Nanita Learned to Make Flan was a whimsical and remarkable experience. The opera was performed at the Anderson Center on Sunday, November 17th by the Binghamton University Music Department. The music department worked in conjunction with the cinema department to put on a show, complete with animated backgrounds developed by four students.
Prior to the actual performance, the students performed four short excerpts from other operas. While only singing one song from each, I appreciated the opportunity to hear pieces in other languages as well as in English.
The first piece was La ci darem la mano from Don Giovanni, and was about a man, Don Giovanni, who stumbled across a wedding, and ,in a bold move, tries to convince the bride, Zerlina, to run away with him under the expectation that they will get married. This scene was performed in Italian, but in order to understand what was being sung, the English translation of the lyrics were projected on the wall behind the actors above a beautiful landscape drawn by the cinema department.
There were three more excerpt pieces that were featured. Sull’aria from Le nozze di Figaro in which two women conspire in an attempt to trick a Count into staying faithful to his wife by writing him a letter. It Would Have Been Wonderful from A Little Night Music, which features two despondent men singing over how they wish a woman they both had an affair with, was less “tempting”. Aria and Scene from The Ballad of Baby Doe, which is about a woman writing her mother a letter about a man she has fallen in love with. Unfortunately, he is married, and his angry wife comes to confront her about the affair.
After these scenes were performed, the actual opera began. The show starts in a shoe shop where Nantia’s father, Pablo, works tirelessly, day and night, repairing and making shoes for people in the village. Pablo, played by Noah Unser, did an amazing job of capturing the audience’s attention while running around the stage, shoes in hand. Nanita, played by Ava Portmore, comes into her father’s shop, asking him to make her a pair of shoes she can wear to her First Communion. Pablo tells his daughter he is too busy. We are then introduced to two more characters, El Mayor, played by Robert Dakwar, and Srta La Bamba, played by Daisy Lawrence. Their vocals along with their expressions, brought the characters to life and captured the playfulness of this children’s story turned opera. As the evening passes and it gets late, Pablo finally goes to bed, giving young Nanita an opening to sneak into her father’s workshop and craft a pair of shoes for herself. Assembling them from colorful scraps, she creates shoes that look like a mosaic of material. The lyrics of the song (and all the songs in this opera) were a combination of English and Spanish.
When Nanita finishes crafting her shoes, she puts them on, only to find that they are magic. The shoes lead Nanita on a journey through the desert all night until she arrives at a house. The house is home to a couple, Old Woman, played by Jessica Durgatkin, and Don Felix, played by Kyle Mcafee. They take Nantia in because she is lost, but instead of helping her find the way home, they turn Nantia into their servant. Forced to cook and clean, Nantia begins to realize how her father must be feeling, working day in and day out. One day, Don Felix brings home a parrot, Don Pepe, played by Michael Breslin. Nantia befriends this parrot and they share their sorrow of being trapped in this situation. On Don Felix’s birthday, the old woman asks Nanita to make Don Felix’s favorite dessert, flan. With a flurry of excitement and singing, Nanita prepares this delicious treat.
That night, while the couple is distracted, Nanita and Don Pepe run away together. Don Pepe tells Nantia not to follow the shoes, but to follow him, as he can show her the way home. Finally after a long journey, Nantia returns to her village and runs into her father’s arms. He is relieved that his daughter is okay and finally makes her a pair of non-magic shoes. Nanita, having learned how to make flan, bakes some for the whole village on the day of her First Communion. The mayor is astounded at how good the flan is and promises to make it the official town dessert. Nanita, her father, and the townspeople rejoiced in a final song and dance.
The opera was not only impressive vocally, but also in the way the actors added emotion and energy to each scene. This story was originally a children’s book so the silliness and child-like wonder made it feel whimsical and light. This opera was the perfect show to attend on a Sunday afternoon. While it’s no longer being performed at the Binghamton University Anderson Center, keep an eye out for future performances like it.
