In “The Dog Who Sang at the Opera,” Pasha is a beautiful Russian wolfhound. She has a pedigree as long as your arm, and she carries herself with grace and dignity. “I am a queen,” she tells herself. Whenever she goes to the park with Shirley, her owner, everyone stops to stare at her, and she takes it in her due as being the loveliest dog there is.
Shirley plays the piano for the Metropolitan Opera, and one day she comes home with exciting news. There is to be a carnival scene in the next production, and the director wants a dog on stage. Pasha would be that dog! “But of course,” she thinks. Why would they want anyone else?
During dress rehearsal, Pasha is given a long beaded necklace to wear, and she gets to stand right next to the diva. Her moment of triumph has come! All eyes are on her – she is truly a star.
That night, Pasha dreams that she is in the stage, in a beautiful gown (this illustration is quite hilarious) and that everyone is listening to her sing. She still has stars in her eyes when she wakes up the next morning.
Now it’s performance time. The diva comes out on the stage, Pasha takes her place, and before she can stop herself, Pasha begins to sing.
“Wooooo-woooooo!”
She imagines herself the soloist, and her voice rises in a duet with the diva. But when she’s dragged off the stage, her moment of glory has ended. Poor Pasha –but for one shining moment, she sang at the Met.
This book is based on a true story. Renee Fleming was performing when she was joined by a dog in the carnival scene. She joked about it, telling the director “It’s the dog or me.” In the back of the children’s book, we see a copy of a newspaper article about the event, as well as the letter Renee sent to the owner of the dog, expressing her good humor about the situation.
But I ask you – why shouldn’t a dog’s dreams get to come true?
(This book was published in 2004 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc, and was illustrated by Erika Oller.)
Related Blogs:
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2