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I know of a few decent operas with beasties in it-with great sound/voices and costumes.

1) Cunning little Vixen by Leos Janacek-one of my favorites.
Has foxes in it obviously ^^

2)The Magic Flute Mozart! Super stuff
Various animals

3)Peter and the Wolf
Various artists and animals-duck, cat, wolf

4) Faust
Sphinx

5)Cats- Cats Doh

6)Bark! Dogs Doh

Anymore you can think of?

I don't know if Beauty and the Beast counts, but there is a beast (hey, you said beasties ) And there's also The Lion King, with all the African animals. I'd love to see that one.

Well, Equus isn't an opera or musical or ballet, to my knowledge. But, it is a play, and there are horses.

Hmm. . . Well, in every version of Man of La Mancha I've seen, two dancers are designated to play the horses. Does that count?

Also, even if the beast in Beauty & The Beast doesn't count, you can still make it applicable for the two dance numbers involving wolves.

And how could you forget the Rat King in The Nutcracker?

I'm almost completely sure there is a Redwall opera.

Edit: Yep www.redwall.org/dave/opera.html

Shaun wrote:I'm almost completely sure there is a Redwall opera.

Edit: Yep www.redwall.org/dave/opera.html

SWEET!!! I used to love the Redwall books. Particularly Veil of Redwall.

Wow, I don't even remember that one, it's been far too long. I think it's time to reread the series (again). I think my personal favorite would have to be taggerung or mossflower, or marlfox. But they are all awesome. I love that series.

Edit: I vaguely remember Veil of Redwall, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about it

For those who are really up on their Furry fandom, there was talk of turning the comic Xanadu into an opera. The woman I got my cat from was bucking for the job of casting director.

And who could forget Swan Lake?
Edit: ...or the (anatomically correct) Wolf in "Into the Woods," for that matter?

Shaun wrote:Wow, I don't even remember that one, it's been far too long. I think it's time to reread the series (again). I think my personal favorite would have to be taggerung or mossflower, or marlfox. But they are all awesome. I love that series.

Edit: I vaguely remember Veil of Redwall, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about it

I don't remember Taggerung at all. I remember Mossflower, but I have no idea what it's about. However, I do remember Marlfox. That one was really cool.

Veil of Redwall was about this girl (mouse, I think) who more-or-less raised this little orphan ferret. He was the son of Swart (I think that was his name) Sixclaw, who had six fingers on one hand. Veil also had six fingers on one hand. There were a lot of things about this story that I didn't like. [spoiler]For example, the fact that Veil was evil for the most part, until the very end when he saves the girl's life. I know it's just a story, but to me it implies a deeper meaning, that you are more or less born evil or born good. In Redwall, as you know, all vermin and reptiles tend to be evil, with some exceptions. It would make more sense that these creatures are all evil because they were raised that way, and because that is what society expects of them, rather than for it to be inherent. Veil, IMO, should have been like any normal Redwall kid, since he was in fact raised in Redwall. He should have turned out ok. But, he didn't. To me, that rings of Calvinism. But whatever. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.[/spoiler] Anyway, for the most part, I really loved this book, despite the larger implication that it hints at. But then again, that's part of the appeal. Over the years, I have become the kind of person who doesn't like a perfectly happy ending. Bittersweet endings are more my style, and Veil's demise fits the bill.

Apologies for the offtopicness.

Ohhh, I do remember that one, I think the title was Outcast of Redwall.
I do agree with you on the implications of the story though. It might just be that all the evil creatures are predatory though.
I could have worded that a little better, but I think it's coherent enough.
Yeah, Sorry about the offtopicness.

I've seen a couple episodes of the Redwall cartoon series. It seems they're focusing on the standard "bad guys" of the animal world: ravens, rats, et alia. The Abbot is a badger and one episode I saw had them nursing a hawk back to health and she returned the favour by helping them avert a siege.

I only saw one or two of the cartoons, I liked the books more, but they weren't bad

vrikasatma wrote:I've seen a couple episodes of the Redwall cartoon series. It seems they're focusing on the standard "bad guys" of the animal world: ravens, rats, et alia. The Abbot is a badger and one episode I saw had them nursing a hawk back to health and she returned the favour by helping them avert a siege.

There was a Redwall Opera AND a Cartoon Series?!

I started reading the Redwall series about a year ago, in order... I just started on "OutCast of Redwall" about a month ago, but have not touched it since reading half of the first chapter. (It's not that I didn't like it...something came up and I didn't have time for a while, and now it has just been sitting on my dresser, begging to be read for weeks).

The shamelessly racist typecasting of good guys and bad guys has bothered me greatly from book one, but not so much that it has stopped me from enjoying them.

...however, just when this trend was really starting to Really piss me off, and I was almost prepared to write my own Redwall Fan-Novel to correct it myself, the character Blaggut (aka "Black Guts") the Rat appeared, and Made me very, very happy at the end of that book. He was only a secondary, supporting character, but he broke the mold.

I love the Redwall series. They are very repetitive, but always fun and exiting, (and ripe with a shocking amount of death and suffering for stories about cute, furry creatures).

..."Euulaaaaaliaaaaaaaaa!!!!!.....Reeedwaaaaaallllllll!!!!"...

Vuldari wrote:There was a Redwall Opera AND a Cartoon Series?!

I believe Nelvana is doing it.

I love the Redwall series. They are very repetitive, but always fun and exiting, (and ripe with a shocking amount of death and suffering for stories about cute, furry creatures).

..."Euulaaaaaliaaaaaaaaa!!!!!.....Reeedwaaaaaallllllll!!!!"...

Haven't read the books yet, I'm still working on Harry Potter Redwall is next on my list of "book series to check out." I get the impression that it's this generation's Narnian Chronicles (still waiting for the release of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with bated breath).

Oh yes, you're right. It is Outcast of Redwall. Oops.

And I also forgot about Blaggut. Yeah, he really made me happy too. Although, he's only one deviation, in an entire book series, from the stereotype. And not a terribly good one at that (wasn't he a moron?). I want a ferret or weasel or fox or something to be front and center, main character, fully functional brain, to be a good guy. That would make me very happy.