The Sweeper of Dreams

A few days ago, my dear friend, Kristen, turned me on to this nifty contest that the English National Opera ( ENO ) is holding for Mini-Operas .  At the moment, the libretto portion is underway, which will be followed by composition and - rather intriguingly - film direction.

One of the mentors is the fellow who's been bringing us the filmed versions of the Metropolitan Opera .  Several of the participants have also worked on the Met's The Enchanted Island which is a pastiche of Shakespeare's The Tempest...which I got to do with some rather talented folks at Hudson High School.  (See above.)

To help out the librettists, three splendid folk gave "seed stories."  The one that intrigued me (quelle surprise) was Neil Gaiman's " The Sweeper of Dreams ."  The good folks holding the competition have asked that each participant put their entry on their blog (which means that I've gotten to read several other sterling librettos for the same story - my favourite of which is here ).

So, without further ado, I present to you my libretto for The Sweeper of Dreams.  You can read it here .  Or press the fly out button in the embedded document below.  I'd really love to know what you think...so do feel free to leave a comment!  Enjoy!