"Chicago's Miniature Grand Operas" Autographed Book (The History of Puppet Opera in Chicago)

"Chicago's Miniature Grand Operas" Book by Luman Coad

* * * AUTOGRAPHED by the entire Opera in Focus Troupe * * *

For more than eighty years Chicago has been home to several unique miniature grand operas. In 1935 Ernest Wolff and his mother premiered the Chicago Puppet Opera Company.

In 1941 the theatre was installed as after-dinner entertainment at Fredrik Chramer's Kungsholm Scandinavian Restaurant. When the theatre was destroyed in 1947, a 208 seat jewel-box opera house was created as the state-of-the-art home to the unique rod puppets.

Since the Kungsholm Miniature Grand Opera closed in 1971, former Kungsholm Puppeteer and Artistic Director William B. Fosser single-handedly kept the art-form of Chicago style Puppet Opera alive with his own production, "Opera in Focus", which he first debuted in 1958 utilizing patented puppets of his own unique design capable of executing a far greater range of motions and sophisticated maneuvers than the original Ernest Wolff/Kungsholm figures.

This book, written by legendary puppeteer Luman Coad (who was given complete access to Opera in Focus' archives featuring photographs, newspaper articles, and other ephemera dating back to the 1930s), tells the story of these three entrepreneurs and their determination to create grand opera in miniature form. The book includes a study of the puppets' construction and manipulation, and features beautiful, full-color photographs of the puppets that have breathed life into this unique art form for nearly 100 years.

Each copy of "Chicago's Miniature Grand Operas" has been autographed by the entire Opera in Focus troupe (including Maestro Tosci himself!).

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About the Author:
Luman Coad's puppetry career spans more than fifty years. With his late wife, Coad Canada Puppets quickly became one of the leading North American puppet theatres - winning numerous awards including eight Citations of Excellence in the Art of Puppetry from the American Center of l'Union Internationale de la Marionnette, plus both the President's Award and the Trustees' Award from the Puppeteers of America. They were inducted as Pioneers in the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame. As well as live theatre, Luman has worked on television and such films as Scary Movie 3, Desolation Sound, and Being John Malkovich.

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Charlemagne Press (May 2, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 152 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0921845502
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0921845508
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.41 x 10 inches