Wrenshall opera is a wonderment

How do you get 150 elementary children to hear and watch an opera? You treat them to a production by Little Opera of the North. It helps to have a scary tale with a happy ending, like "Hansel and Gretel." That was the fare on Oct. 9 at Wrenshall School. Music teacher Debbie Fenlason clapped her hands, the room became quiet, and baritone Rob Reardon stepped forward to greet the crowd and start the story: Two children get lost in the forest and encounter a witch who wants to turn them into gingerbread cookies.

For the next hour, four singers and a pianist, using all the elements of stagecraft -...