by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 02, 2010

What if the "Phantom of the Opera" could sing - and was also a chicken? Mary Jane Auch answers the question in a children's picture book called "Bantam of the Opera." The book's jacket notes that the author has written four other picture books which also feature "extremely talented chickens." But in this one, it's a rooster who loves opera - a plucky rooster named Luigi.

The rooster slips in the back of the farmer's truck to attend a performance of the opera "Rigoletto." And there's a wonderful drawing of star-struck rooster in the front row of the auditorium. But the rooster has also been practicing his arias, and the next day during a rehearsal, he joins in. "The rooster has a lovely voice," says the opera's soprano. "And perfect pitch - so rare in a tenor."

"I'll perfect pitch this poultry right out of the theater!" says the opera's current tenor - a belligerent bully named Enrico Baldini.

They adopt the rooster as the opera's mascot - but the rooster can't stop from singing during that evening's performance. And from here the story borrows from the Phantom of the Opera, since the rooster sings while dangling from the theatre's crystal chandelier. Enrico hunts for him backstage, but the rooster hides in a room full of costumes. And eventually he emerges with black, red-lined cape that's topped by a low-hanging black hat...

It's a funny and lively story with a silly sense of humor. (When the rooster first begins the sing, the head rooster tells him to "Knock it off. Nobody likes a show-off.") But Mary Jane Auch also drew the illustrations for the book, and they contribute a real sense of atmosphere. On the book's title page, there's a mysterious purple background behind the silhouette - facing an eerie indigo light - of a chicken. (From its pose, it's apparently conducting an orchestra...) And when the head rooster tells him to "'Knock it off," Auch draws it with fierce scowling eyes and an angry wing on its hip, pointing the other wing's tip, accusingly to the forehead of the disheartened Luigi.

It's the night of the opera's final performance when both the lead and his understudy come down sick. Even though Luigi doesn't actually sing the words - he sings Cock-a-la-DOOdle-lay" - the soprano points out that no one understands the words anyways. The audience breaks his heart when they heckle him, because he's a chicken instead of an opera singer.

But when they hear him sing, he receives a standing ovation!

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