SHE SAID THE 'F' WORD
Tête à Tête Opera Festival
She Said The 'F' Word is a mostly sung-through, modern (yet tuneful) opera/stage piece that is a mixture of The Wonder Years and L'Enfant a la Sortileges, with a smattering of A Cunning Little Vixen.
It has something of the atmosphere of these great works as well as continuing in their musical heritage.
"Easier was the libretto of She Said The 'F' Word, a comedy by Daniel Gillingwater that was far and away the best thing I saw at this year's Tête à Tête Opera festival of new chamber operas. Tête à Tête shows can be worthy and pretentious. This one though was riotous, direct and very funny, based around the breakfast-table traumas of getting a 10-year-old ready for school. The text was sitcom-sharp, the music clever and the story evidently autobiographical - directed as it was by the composer's wife, and with their real-life son (a natural) playing himself on stage. Utterly brilliant."
- Michael White