We sat down with critically acclaimed opera singer, comedian, and cabaret artist Delea Shand to hear more about her second children’s show, Madame Chandelier’s Grand Theft Opera. Inspired by Mozart’s The Magic Flute and drawing on popular motifs from video games that both adults and children alike will recognise, Madame Chandelier’s Grand Theft Opera is a whistle-stop tour of some of opera’s most famous characters and songs through a family-friendly lens.
Madame Chandelier’s Grand Theft Opera reimagines The Magic Flute through video game chaos—how did you approach translating its world for a young, family audience?
At a time when we are all glued to our individual screens, I wanted to write a family show that brings people together, that everyone could enjoy. I always develop my shows with an outside eye, and this time I collaborated with P Burton-Morgan, who is an opera/theatre director and librettist. We had several sessions on zoom to workshop ideas, which then culminated in my first preview at the Leicester Comedy Festival in February. Previously, my shows have been more like a cabaret smorgasbord of all my favourite opera arias, but P really pushed me to create a show with a strong narrative arc. Also, we both have kids who are growing up in this screen-focused world, and I think the tension between parents, kids and video games felt very real and worth exploring.
What excites you about using comedy and cabaret to open up opera to audiences who might be encountering it for the first time?
Opera is a truly amazing art form. We take it for granted now, but when opera was developed in the late 16th century, it was the first time all the arts came together in one place. Opera has music, dance, singing, acting, storytelling, painted sets, and amazing costumes. Musical theatre and basically everything that comes after, is standing on the shoulders of opera. Basically, opera walked so Hamilton could run (for the next 25 years on Broadway). However, some people find it impenetrable because it seems expensive, elite, or unrelatable, but opera is everywhere and many of these songs will be familiar – and not just to adults. I love having even a small part in bringing this art form to new audiences.
How does the Madame Chandelier persona help you navigate between virtuosic singing and playful storytelling?
Madame Chandelier is just a heightened version of me, but with bigger eyelashes and more glitter. Inhabiting a character allows me to develop this weird, alternative world where it’s totally normal to burst into my favourite arias at any point, do a funny accent, make and wear ridiculous costumes, or get people to throw gummy bears into my mouth on the high notes. It’s been an absolute blast developing this character over the past eight years. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
The show brings together iconic opera figures like Carmen, Tosca and Madame Butterfly—how did you decide which characters could best serve the story’s “boss battle” structure?
Carmen, Tosca and Madame Butterfly are so iconic. If you’ve only heard one opera aria in your life, it was probably one of theirs. And like true divas, they are so legendary that their operas are named after them. In the video game, Madame Chandelier chooses them as avatars, and they each go on a quest to help fight the evil Queen of the Night. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Madame Chandelier show if I didn’t subvert their stories and give these characters a bit of a feminist glow-up on the way.
As a performer and music educator, how do you balance entertainment with gently introducing operatic technique and history?
What Madame Chandelier does is take opera out of the opera house and bring it to unexpected places. Although Grand Theft Opera isn’t explicitly an educational show, unlike my previous kids’ show, for many people it will probably be their first experience hearing opera performed live. In some ways, it feels like a big responsibility that Madame Chandelier could be the gateway into opera for most of the kids in the audience. I hope the take-away is that opera is for everyone, and that kids might file this memory away and come back to opera later on in their lives and feel welcome.
Returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a family show, how do you adapt your work for such a broad, intergenerational audience?
I’m inspired by old school variety shows like The Muppets and Carol Burnett, and basically all the TV I watched in that golden age of 90s family-friendly viewing. I grew up with one TV and not that many channels, so pretty much everything had that intergenerational appeal by default. With the rise of streaming and the solitary screen, we have increasingly lost this shared viewing experience. It takes a lot of skill to create something that’s funny to a broad audience, and I think it’s about finding universal experiences that can be interpreted on different levels, leaning into joy and silliness, and finding a new POV that’s widely relatable. This show is my tiny attempt to fight back against the polarising entertainment environment we currently live in.
Madame Chandelier’s Grand Theft Opera runs at Edinburgh Fringe 12:15 05-16 August at The Green at Pleasance Courtyard.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/madame-chandelier-s-grand-theft-opera