Regarding CAT: the opera-musical - "a jaunty, Seussian feel… a playful, jazzy score" – The New York Times (Click here for full article)

"A lively introduction to opera." - Laurel Graeber, The New York Times

"This is not the kid of opera our parents listened to." - Rick Palley, Brooklyn Skyline

"Material that can work on a variety of levels - both accessible for children and thought-provoking for adults" -Kelley Rourke, Opera America

"My goal was to make opera and music theater that was totally accessible, totally American and totally vernacular." -Grethe B Holby, as quoted in The Southampton Press

"The kids in the audience got the moral, the grownups thought the music was cool." - Elizabeth Maupin, OrlandoSentinal.com

"Terrific, fresh new work that breaks through old rules, without sacrificing what we love about the art form. Work that delivers a great time in the theater; that challenges, inspires, entertains and that captures something fundamental of our time." - Grethe B Holby, as quoted in Opera America

"The quality of the music and libretto far exceeded my expectations of what theatre for young people can be." - Patrick Flick, Artistic Director, The Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays, Playfest, Orlando

"This was my son's first introduction to theatre and your wonderful play made it truly an unforgettable experience." - Audience Member

"Absolutely a gem in the making! Audiences were charmed by Animal Tales and not the least by the exceptional work of the entire creative team."- Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director of Arts and Cultural Programming, Montclair State University

"Put the words "family" and "opera" together, and chances are a lot of people will start edging away in the other direction.

"I should know, because I'm one of them. (I have this vision of Brunhilde singing to a rainbow-colored gaggle of three-year-olds.) But those of us with silly prejudices should leave those silly prejudices aside for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a little 60-minute opera at PlayFest.

"Produces by a group called the Family Opera Initiative from New York, Sir Gawain tells the medieval story of the proud Gawain, who thinks his courage, not his pride, is being tested by a mysterious green knight. The story is just unfamiliar enough to be a revelation to most people, but what's wonderful here is the meshing of opera and musical theater (with terrific young opera singers playing two of the roles and terrific young music-theater folks playing the other two.)

"The kids in the audience got the moral, the grownups thought the music was cool, and we all giggled at the manure cart and the way somebody's bloody's head goes flying. (This is, after all, the Dark Ages.) Laughs, blood, beautiful music -- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has is all." - Elizabeth Maupin, Orlando Sentinel Blog

NEW WORK . NEW AUDIENCES