Opera for the Young Opera for the Young Opera for the Young is a professional, touring opera company based in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1970, it brings professional opera programs to elementary schools throughout the Midwest during its spring and fall tours. With nearly 200 performances, reaching approximately 70,000 children annually, Opera for the Young can be counted among the largest opera outreach programs in the nation. Opera for the Young’s repertoire include age appropriate adaptations of Gretry's "Beauty and the Beast", Massenet's "Cinderella", Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", Dvořák's "Rusalka", Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel", Donizetti's "The Elixir of Love",
Hansel and Gretel: An Opera Fantasy called "kinemans". The bodies of the kinemins were sculpted in clay by James Summers and cast in foam latex by George Butler. Summers also did the paint job and their "makeup. The puppets were one-third life-size and cost $2,500 apiece to build. The Witch was re-named Rosina Rubylips. This is different from the original opera, where the witch tells Hansel that her name is Rosine Leckermaul (translated as Rosina Tastymuzzle). The mother and father figures were sculpted to resemble Mildred Dunnock ("Death of a Salesman") and Frank Rogier, who supplied their voices. After production, the Hansel & Gretel sets were