Opera for children has meant the kids stay home with a baby sitter while the parents go to the theater -- either that, or Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd parodying Wagner.

Rebecca Droke, Post-Gazette From left, McKenna Whisler, Annie Rago, Amadis Amaya and Kim Steinhauer rehearse for "Phantasmagorilla? No! Phantasmagoria." Click photo for larger image. 'Phantasmagorilla? No! Phantasmagoria' Produced by: Opera Theater and Gateway to the Arts. Where: Children's Museum, North Side. When: 1 and 3 p.m. Sat. and Sun.; 11 a.m. Mon. and Wed. Tickets: Free, with admission. 412-322-5058 or 412-621-1499.

There were occasional works with appeal for children, such as Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" and others presented in kid-friendly productions, such as Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel." The past decade, however, has seen a marked rise in new operas for children. Often the object of jokes about being long-winded, operas are now finding success with the shortest attention spans of all.

"Within the last five years they have become more prevalent," says Andrea Johnson, manager of education at Opera America. "Children's operas have become a unique way for companies to connect with their communities. If you can get a kid interested in opera, maybe they take their parents. A lot of companies are becoming more family oriented."

"Ravel's 'L'Enfant et les Sortileges' [1917-25] was one of the earliest," says Pittsburgh composer Efrain Amaya. "Since then I think it is getting more popular to write operas for children."

Among the companies engaged in commissioning and performing children's works are Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Chicago Lyric Opera, Opera Colorado, Canadian Children's Opera Chorus and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Recently a local company has joined their ranks with its first commission of an opera for children.

Opera Theater, along with Pittsburgh's Gateway to the Arts, has performed a children's opera nearly every year since 2000. Among them have been Seymour Barab's "The Toy Shop," Mennoti's "Amahl" and Lukas Foss' "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." But this weekend marks the first time Opera Theater has presented an opera it has commissioned: Amaya's "Phantasmagorilla? No! Phantasmagoria," co-commissioned by Pittsburgh's Gateway to the Arts.

"Many opera companies do try in some way to engage younger people, but in terms of actually creating operas for children, we're one of the few," says Sarah Marshall, marketing director of Opera Theater.

	Operas aimed at children increasing In recent years, American opera companies have increased their commissioning of new operas for children. Here is a selection of recent works. "The Araboolies of Liberty Street" by Ronald Perera (2001) "Somebody's Children" by Susan Kander (2001) "The Little Prince" by Rachel Portman (2003) "One False Move" by Kander (2003) "Stone Soup" by Philip Seward (2004) "How Nanita Learned to Make Flan" by Enrique Gonzalez-Medina (2004) "Naomi's Road" by Ramona Luengen (2005) "La Curandera" by Robert Rodriguez (2006) "Phantasmagorilla? No! Phantasmagoria" by Efrain Amaya (2007) Source: Opera America

Amaya, who is on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University and will conduct the performances, says his opera "is for everyone, but the best age may be 8-15."

Some American opera companies produce regular operas in abridged children's form, such as Julie Taymor's condensed version of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" for the Metropolitan Opera. "Our new model is that we will commission or resurrect a children's opera every year that will premiere at the Children's Museum or Hazlett and then became a touring vehicle to schools through Gateway to the Arts," Marshall says.

"It's part of our mission," says Opera Theater artistic director Jonathan Eaton. "But most importantly, I want to give back some of the adventures that opera has afforded me to the next generation."

"Phantasmagorilla" will premiere at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh and then be available to tour local schools in May. Opera Theater will also take it to the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children and the Woodlands Foundation.

"Phantasmagorilla" shares many traits with others written for children. The music has to be engaging and the opera short (40 minutes or so), and the sets have to be minimalist and movable. "Most of what is being commissioned now are chamber pieces, something that is portable, smaller scale, with piano accompaniment or small orchestra and four to six singers," says Johnson, including major roles for a preteen and a teenager.

"You have to be careful of the range," Amaya says. "Their voices are not very strong, and they don't sing with vibrato." But he also says that, while the music can't be "crazy," a composer shouldn't underestimate the children or risk boring them. "The language is very straightforward, so you can understand the text. It is very tuneful."

The plot also is one to which any child can relate. Dragged to the opera with his parents and sister, young Bernard quickly falls asleep. Several fitful and vivid dreams follow in which audience members and his family are transformed into the characters in his own fantasy opera.

"They are watching an opera, but it is tailored to them, as opposed to taking a grand opera and making the story come alive for the students," Marshall said.

To make sure he got "Phantasmagorilla" right, Amaya mined an area rich in resources about children: his own house. "It is a family affair," he says, laughing. His wife, Susana Amundarain, wrote the libretto, and he based the lead vocal part on his son, Amadis, 11, who later won the audition for Bernard. Playing Bernard's sister, Nessie, are Annie Rago and McKenna Whisler, both 16. Singers Kim Steinhauer, Charlene Canty and Sean Donaldson take the adult roles, with Kellee Van Aken of City Theatre directing. Several young dancers will be choreographed by Labco's artistic director, Gwen Ritchie.

In the end, opera companies don't know how much effect this new wave of children's operas will have on the field. "Everyone has their own opinion as to whether it will work," says Johnson. "Are we operating in a black hole? Until we are able to accurately find statistics to track this, we aren't sure."

Opera Theater has already commissioned another children's opera for next season, "The Singing Trees," based on a children's book by Laurie Marshall.

This company, obviously, believes it is on the right track in bringing children on board.

"They start to see it as a fun, exciting experience as opposed to something uncool," says Sarah Marshall.