Introduction -- Where can you see a play, maybe watch a ballet, and hear beautiful singing accompanied by a big orchestra, all at the same time? -- How did opera begin? -- Who writes the words, and who writes the music? -- Who makes an opera happen? -- Who holds an opera performance together? -- Who is on the stage? -- Who is backstage, behind the curtain? -- How do they all come together? -- Glossary -- Favorite opera plots: Carmen -- L'elisir d'amore (The elixir of love) -- Lucia di Lammermoor -- Porgy and Bess -- Faust -- Romeo et Juliette (Romeo and Juliet) -- Hansel und Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) -- Pagliacci -- Amahl and the night visitors -- Cosi fan tutte (Women are like that) -- Don Giovanni -- Die Zauberflote (The magic flute) -- Le nozze di Figaro (The marriage of Figaro) -- Les contes d'Hoffmann (Tales of Hoffmann) -- La Boheme (The Bohemians) -- La fanciulla del west (The girl of the golden west) -- Madama Butterfly -- Tosca -- Turandot -- La cenerentola (Cinderella) -- Il barbiere di Siviglia (The barber of Seville) -- Die fledermaus (The bat) -- Der rosenkavalier (The cavalier of the rose) -- Aida -- La traviata (The lost one) -- Rigoletto -- Die meistersinger von Nurnberg (The mastersingers of Nuremberg).