In a clever spoof, “The Bantam of the Opera” tells us the story of Luigi, born a bantam, but with the dream of being a singer. While all the other roosters were learning how to sing their boring old “cock-doodle-doos,” Luigi would throw in a little something special to set himself apart from all the others.
The head rooster had issues with this, and commanded Luigi to sing it just like everyone else. Luigi tried to mind, he really did, but when you’ve got music in your soul, what are you going to do? He tried humming, but it wasn’t the same. He tried singing with his head stuck in a haystack, but he couldn’t breathe. After giving it much thought, he started taking long walks to places where he could sing without being heard.
One day he wandered up onto the porch where the farmer and his wife were listening to opera. Luigi knew he’d found his calling. And – when the farmer’s wife said she’d like to go to a live production, Luigi thought he’d died and gone to heaven. A little rooster stowaway rode to the opera house that night in the back of the truck.
Luigi could hardly believe how wonderful the opera was, and he decided to stay. No more farm for him! When rehearsals began the next day, Luigi was there, joining in. The star of the show wasn’t pleased, but the soprano proclaimed Luigi to have perfect pitch and begged that he be allowed to live in the opera house.
That night, Luigi sang parts of the opera from a perch in the chandelier high above the audience’s head. The star was infuriated, but Luigi managed to hide, in a perfect disguise of a dark cloak and fedora.
The next night, the star came down with the chicken pox and was unable to go on. Rallying to his cause, the soprano asked Luigi to sing, and all his dreams came true that night on stage. The star blamed Luigi from giving him the chicken pox so he could steal the show, but we all know we can’t get chicken pox from a real chicken. Right?
(This book was published in 1997 by Holiday House and was illustrated by the author.)
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