“And when a mermaid bumps

Into a blue shark

They kiss”

Class 1-3’s opera this year opens with a rather prettily moody song* (for first grade) about the Mermaid Castle and the Mermaids and Blue Sharks who cavort merrily within (for more on the other First Grade Operas and how they are created, read this and this).

But their idyll is threatened.  The Red Sharks are planning an attack, eager to take the Mermaid treasure that the Red Sharks claim is really their great great grandfathers’.

Unawares of the impending threat, the Mermaids and the Blue Sharks play hide-and-seek.

The Red Sharks launch their attack.

The Blues Shark defend the Mermaid Castle by throwing soggy sand and coral, which prove ineffectual, and by throwing spicy juicy sausage, which the Red Sharks merely merrily eat.

The Blues Sharks find a cannon in a sunken pirate ship.  They try to light the fuse to blast a cannon ball at the Red Sharks.  But you can’t light a fuse underwater.

Then a Blue Shark gets the idea to create a Vortex, an underwater tornado, by swimming around and around.

RED SHARK:  We’re getting near!

BLUE SHARK: We surrender, Red Sharks.  Come on in through this way to get your treasure.

RED SHARK: What is this?

BLUE SHARK: It’s a rollercoaster that leads to the treasure room.

RED SHARK: That looks like so much fun.  Let’s go!

But it’s a trap, and the Red Sharks are sucked by the Vortex into the dungeon!

The Blue Sharks and Mermaids rejoice:

*You may notice the handwritten chord markings on some of the lead sheets.  I usually end up playing the chords/harmonic progression in the accompaniment from memory during rehearsals and performances, but sometimes I’ll make notes for myself on the music sheet.