Rumpelstiltskin

A classroom guide for teachers

A Synopsis and Listening Guide

The opera begins in an old English music hall that has seen better days. With a flourish Alastair the Storyteller welcomes the audience and announces that the story today will be the tale of Rumpelstiltskin. After describing this grotesque figure of a man, two guides enter dressed as street molls. One represents tragedy and the other represents comedy.  The ladies dress Alastair the Storyteller as Rumpelstiltskin and invite the young audience to witness the story that is to be told.

The guides introduce The King and The Miller. During their duet, The Miller tells a lie to The King that his daughter has a magical power. He makes up a story that she first wove straw into tin, then silver and then gold.

The King demands to learn the whereabouts of this young woman. But The Miller, hoping for a reward that will raise his status says that he can’t find her. He also tells The King that she is a challenging young woman who can only be coaxed into this act of magic by her father.

(Click to hear: “I know not where she is” The Miller’s aria.)

The guides re-appear and confess to the audience that The Miller’s story is a lie. Nell, his daughter enters with fresh berries she has picked. The King is smitten with the young beautiful girl and orders that a spinning wheel and straw be brought for her to spin into a precious metal.

Nell is pressed into service by the Guides. She panics when she learns her father has forced her to do something impossible. The guides sing to soothe her as they force her into spinning the straw.  Nell tries to calm herself as the guides call up The-Spirit-of-The-Gold, no one other than Rumpelstiltskin.

The dwarf and guides dance a tango as they sing about the weakness of mankind.

(Click to hear a tango: “People deserve the lives that they get” Rumpelstiltskin aria).

He prophesizes that Nell will be queen because of his clever efforts. The girl has no other alternative than to offer Rumpelstiltskin her necklace if he will help her. The guides warn that she will regret this but the desperate girl agrees.

As Nell spins, the guides play with their magic canvas bag, and the dwarf turns her weaving into tin. The guides take the tin to the king who is disappointed with this metal and wants something better.

Again Rumpelstiltskin asks for payment and Nell offers him her precious ring in exchange for him spinning straw into silver. Again the guides warn her to stop, but the desperate girl agrees and begins to spin.  Rumpelstiltskin sings a patter song.

(Click to hear a patter song: “A bottle green of bottled water” Rumpelstiltskin aria.)

Nell despairs that she will never be able to succeed at her mission of spinning the straw into gold. Rumpelstiltskin disappears.

Nell’s opportunistic father, The Miller, arrives with the King. He is pleased with himself and the outcome of his lies.  The King promises Nell marriage if she will only turn straw to gold.

(Click to hear: “My child, you made silver from straw” The King’s aria).

After they leave, one of The Guides comments on The King’s overwhelming love for Nell. Nell sings a ballad about her love for The King.

(Click to hear an English Ballad: “My heart is like a singing bird” Nell’s aria.).

Rumpelstiltskin returns and Nell begs the dwarf to weave straw into gold, but she has nothing to offer, except the promise of giving him her first born child.

(Click to hear a Tin Pan Alley Song: “Hip hooray…you’ll be delighted” Rumpelstiltskin aria.)

After the straw has been transformed, Nell becomes the queen and is paralyzed by the deal she has made with the dwarf.  She soon gives birth to a son that she loves very much. The first guide, dressed as a bird, announces the birth of the new prince. Rumpelstiltskin appears and demands that Nell give him the baby as fair payment for spinning the straw into gold. The Miller overhears their duet as Nell pleads with the dwarf to allow her to keep her baby. Rumpelstiltskin offers her a test - discover his name and he will allow Nell to keep her son. After he leaves, The Miller apologizes to his daughter and vows to find the dwarf’s name.

The Guides decide to help Nell and The Miller. They return to the woods, The Miller hides and The Guides trick Rumpelstiltskin into doing the Name Polka.

(Click to hear: The ‘Name’ Polka: “This troll has a goal” Quartet: Rumpelstiltskin/Guides and The Miller.)

As the Guides dance and play, Rumpelstiltskin reveals his name. The Miller whispers to Nell the name just as the Dwarf appears. When she says his name, the dwarf has such a fit that he crumbles to the ground. He is swallowed up by the gold. Alastair the Story-teller re - appears to celebrate with the company as they sing their final chorus.

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